Call Description

TPS 33: The International Competition

Texas Photographic Society is proud to announce the call for entry for our flagship exhibition, TPS 33: The International Competition, juried by renowned artists Barbara Bosworth and Emily Sheffer.

This call is open-themed and submissions from artists of all levels internationally are welcomed. TPS 33: The International Competition will open at the Center for Contemporary Art, in Abilene, Texas, on December 11, 2025.

October 10, 2025 - Call for entry opens
November 6, 2025 - Deadline for entry (11:59 p.m. Mountain Time Zone)
November 15, 2025 - Exhibiting artists announced and emails sent to all entrants
December 9-13, 2025 - Work due in Abilene
December 18, 2025- Exhibition opens at Center for Contemporary Art in Abilene 
February 7, 2026- Exhibition closes with a reception from 3-5pm

AWARDS

First Place = $500

Second Place = $300

Third Place = $200

Up to 5 Honorable Mentions may be awarded

ENTRY FEE

The entry fee for current TPS Members is $30 for 5 images, plus $6 for each additional image. The Non-Member entry fee is $40 for 5 images, plus $6 for each additional image. You do not have to be a member of TPS to enter. However, if you enter the competition and join TPS or renew as a member at the same time, you can pay the reduced current TPS Member entry fee of $30.

You may enter up to 12 images. (This call requires a minimum of five images; if you need to submit fewer, you may submit mulitples of the same image to reach the minimum.) 

TPS Member Benefits include member feature opportunities via our Members' Gallery, Member Spotlight, Blog, Members' News, Members' Instagram Takeover, social media accounts and E-Zine, discounted entry fees to most TPS competitions, and discounts to programs and services offered through our partnerships.

If you are not sure of your TPS member status, please contact TPS at cpireland@texasphoto.org. All entry and membership fees are non-refundable.


JUROR'S STATEMENT

Coming soon

ABOUT THE JURORS

Barbara Bosworth grew up in Novelty, Ohio, and along the shores of Lake Erie. She currently lives in Massachusetts, where she is professor emeritus of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. Bosworth’s work has been widely exhibited, notably in retrospectives at the Denver Art Museum in Colorado, Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona. Her publications include The Heavens (Radius Books, 2018), The Meadow (Radius Books, 2015), Natural Histories (Radius Books, 2013), and Trees: National Champions (MIT Press; Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 2005).

Emily Sheffer is a fine art photographer and book artist. In 2017, she founded Dust Collective, a handmade photography book collective, and has since published over a dozen titles. She earned her BFA in Photography with Departmental Honors from The Massachusetts College of Art and Design in May of 2015. After graduation, Emily was listed as a 2015 LensCulture Top 50 Emerging Photographer. In 2019, Maine Media Workshops invited Emily to be their book-artist-in-residence. She currently works as a studio director in New England. Emily graduated in 2022 from The University of Hartford Photography MFA program, where she was awarded the Merit Scholarship.
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SALES

TPS encourages the sale of exhibited work and will collect a 30% commission from all prints sold during the exhibition. Please indicate the sales price of your print, including frame/finishing. If your finished piece is not for sale, simply note NFS. If your work is accepted and you do not indicate a sales price, the artwork will be listed as NFS.

IF YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTED

1. Artwork must be ready-to-hang using wire stretched between D-rings on the back. The finished piece must not exceed 30" in the longest dimension (including the frame). Sawtooth hangers are NOT permitted. Please use white mats and white or black frames that are gallery quality and complement your work (color mats are NOT acceptable). Plexiglass must be used with the frame, NO GLASS ALLOWED. Photographs printed on metal are allowed, but must be framed, with the photograph safely recessed from the front of the frame, and packed appropriately. Clearly label the back of your work with your full name, address, telephone number, email address, image title, medium, dimensions and sales price or NFS. TPS reserves the right to exclude works from the exhibition that are not gallery-ready and professional in presentation.

2. A prepaid return UPS or FedEX shipping label MUST be provided with your work for prints to be returned to you when the exhibition concludes. Work WITHOUT return shipping will NOT be included in the exhibition and will NOT be returned. Please keep a copy of the prepaid return shipping label and your receipt. Packing peanuts are NOT permitted. Please ship prints in a flat box (do not use moving boxes) as our storage space is limited. Prints will be return-shipped in the container in which they were received. If additional exhibition venues are added, artists will be notified with location, dates, and other pertinent details, and work will be return-shipped from the final venue.

3. Framed prints with prepaid return shipping label must arrive at the Center for Contemporary Art, in Abilene, Texas, by December 10, 2025.

TPS and the Center for Contemporary Art will exercise all due care in handling your artwork. However, TPS is not liable for loss, theft, damage, or replacement of artwork, nor is TPS liable for damage during shipping. The Center for Contemporary Art does not insure artists' work. Please consider insuring your work.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions, please contact TPS Executive Director Ann T. Shaw at cpireland@texasphoto.org.

Application Requirements

IMAGE REQUIREMENTS

Please submit digital JPG files only, minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side and 5 MB maximum. Please remove watermarks from images. For each image you will need to provide the image title and the process (medium) used to make the image/print (Archival Digital Print, Silver Gelatin Print, Platinum/Palladium Print, Wet Plate Collodian, etc.) To clarify, you will submit a digital file of your image for the contest application; if your work is selected for the show, you will print your image, frame it, and ship it to the exhibition venue.

Need help resizing images? You can resize via a Mac or PC computer, or use a number of third-party applications, many of which offer free trials or solutions. Please go here for suggestions.

Eligibility Criteria

TPS 33: The International Competition is open to artists internationally, of all levels, who are at least 18 years old at time of entry. All photography-based work is encouraged including digital, silver, and alternative processes. Works exhibited previously in a TPS show are not eligible. Current members of the TPS Board of Directors are permitted to enter but are not eligible for awards.