APA San Francisco - 2025 Something Personal: Call for Entries

About Something Personal

It's our favorite time of year! "Something Personal" is one of the legendary photo contests of our industry with an acclaimed list of judges and growing list of prizes. This year we are hosting another print Exhibition and Industry Event to celebrate the Top 100 Photos.

All-Star Lineup of Judges and Incredible Prizes

Visit APA San Francisco to view the growing list!

Entry Fees

APA Members save on a each entry. Not a member? Join first and save up to 50% per entry. Annual Memberships start at $50.

• $15: APA ProPlus, or Professional Members
• $20: APA Emerging, or Supporter Members
• $25: APA Contributor, Educator, or Student Members
• $30: Non-members

Timeline for Exhibition

• Call for Entries: September 21th
• Submissions Deadline: October 19th
• Judges Selections Finalized + Top 100 Notified: October 24

Please Note

• Once you have been notified, details for where to get your work printed and framed will be shared with you with more specification.
• Top 100 winners will have to submit prints to the Framers by November 15th at the very latest (sooner is better!) If you need custom matting, please aim to get prints to the framers sooner!
• PRO TIP: Have your high resolution photos ready for print while you await notice if you made it into the Top 100!

Exhibition Date is in December at Left Space, San Francisco

Competition Rules & Consent

By entering The APA Something Personal 2025 Photo Competition, Entrants:

1. Warrant to APA SF that they have created and own the work submitted (including all elements of the work) and that nothing within any work has been copied or added from another person’s work.
2. Warrant that the whole copyright and any other form of intellectual property right in the work is vested in them.
3. Warrant that they have not assigned, licensed, disposed of, or otherwise encumbered any of their rights which allow them to deal freely with the work and the copyright therein.
4. Warrant that they have obtained model or property releases from any persons and/or property owners requiring such, featured in their submitted photographs allowing publication in any and all media forms.
5. Agree that their work may be exhibited or shown during APA-sponsored events, as well as on the APA websites and APA promotional materials, allowing for the photographer to retain complete control over the licensing and sale of their work.
6. Agree that APA may reproduce and may allow reproduction of winning images in APA-approved publications including but not limited to promotional materials, flyers, Art Books celebrating the work which may or may not be made for sale with profit to contribute to APA SF Annual Funding.
7. Acknowledge that Credit will be given to the photographer for any image(s) used wherever possible.
8. Acknowledge that the cost of printing and framing is the photographers responsibility if they are selected within the top 100 and would like to participate in the Exhibition.
9. Acknowledge that APA relies fully upon the warranties and license given by Entrants when submitting their entries for consideration to The APA Something Personal 2025 Photo Competition. Entrants indemnify and hold APA harmless from any claims, actions, proceedings, costs and expenses arising as a result of any allegation that the relevant Entrant did not own or is not wholly entitled and authorized to allow publication and reproduction of the work by APA.
10. APA SF reserves the right to disqualify any winner not providing the required personal information and winning image in the requested file format and size within two weeks of APA SF’s request via the contact information supplied by the entrant. Replacement winners will be selected at the judges’ discretion.
11. Judging is a blind process. Photographers’ names will only be disclosed to the jurors after the judging process has been completed. The decision of the judges of the competition shall be final and binding.
12. Entrants retain full copyright to their images and grant no usage to APA SF other than those granted herein. APA SF, the Sponsors, or Venues showing an exhibition of winners shall not be liable for any loss or damage of any entry. Submission of an entry to the competition automatically constitutes the contestant’s acceptance of all conditions set forth in the above rules. It also acknowledges the right of APA SF to use the photographer’s likeness and information, as well as the winning images, in exhibitions and promotions, in any and all forms of print, electronic and digital media, related to APA Something Personal Photo Competitions for up to 48 months following the 2025 Competition winner’s announcement.
13. Entry fees cannot be refunded once submitted.
14. Panoramas, diptychs, and triptychs are not accepted this year.
15. Images specifically commissioned for publication or some other use by a paying client are not considered true “personal work” for the purposes of this competition and may be disqualified without prior notification or explanation.
16. No AI Generative works will be accepted at this time.

Image Submission Guidelines

Follow these guidelines and image requirements carefully to ensure the proper submission of your entries.

• Be sure to read through the Competition Rules and timeline before participating.
• Click the "Register Button" on this page to begin
• APA Members log in to their APA Profile to automatically receive the appropriate discounted entry fee. Not a member? There is a prompt to join before submitting which will save you on your submission fees.
• Non-APA members can enter by creating a guest account with a business name, email address, and password.
• You can upload as many images as you want (no more than ten at a time).
• The system will automatically charge you based on your membership level.
• Once your transaction is complete, your submission is final, and you cannot edit your images.
• You can return to your APA account anytime to review your entries. You may submit additional images until the final deadline.
• You will receive an email confirmation upon entering.
• If you do not receive a confirmation email, please check your spam, then contact: director@apasf.com

Image Requirements

• All files must be .jpg format
• File size limit: 2MB
• Image size: no smaller than 1200 pixels and no longer than 1800 pixels
• Color profile is sRGB, image resolution : 72 ppi
• File naming should consist of letters, numbers, dashes, or underscores. Please do not include a © symbol in your file name.
• Images should not contain any text that is not part of the image
• Judging is blind: image file names are not visible to the judges
• Each entry fee is for a single image.
• You can enter more than once, in batches of 10 photos at a time or less.

Categories

• Something Personal