Call Description

2026 CPA Members’ Juried Exhibition

The Center for Photographic Art (CPA) is excited to announce the 2026 Members’ Juried Exhibition! This year we are offering $2400 in awards and prizes. New or current CPA members working in all still photographic media are welcome to enter. There is no theme; any subject matter is eligible.

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Juror:

Dr. Rebecca Senf is Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, in Tucson. Her B.A. in Art History is from the University of Arizona; her M.A. and Ph.D. were awarded by Boston University. In 2012, her book Reconstructing the View: The Grand Canyon Photographs of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe was released by University of California Press; in 2017, her book To Be Thirteen, showcasing the work of Betsy Schneider, was published by Radius Press and Phoenix Art Museum. She has curated fifty exhibitions, including her recent Richard Avedon: Relationships which was shown in Milan and Palermo, Italy and Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, and has contributed chapters, interviews, and essays to over a dozen publications. In 2021, based on her successful proposal, the Center for Creative Photography was awarded a significant grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to produce a book and exhibition celebrating the Chicano photographer Louis Carlos Bernal. Senf is an Ansel Adams scholar, and in 2020 released a book on Adams’s early years, called Making a Photographer, copublished by the CCP and Yale University Press, now in a second printing.

Submission period: January 1, 2026 through February 9, 2026, 11:59pm MST

Jurying, Awards and Exhibitions
Forty five images selected by the juror will be exhibited in the historic CPA gallery in Carmel, CA, and featured in an online gallery on the CPA website. Up to an additional forty five images will be selected for the online gallery.

All selected gallery and online images will be published in the 2026 Members’ Juried Exhibition catalog, available for sale during the exhibition as well as for purchase on our website.

The juror will grant the following awards:

Best of show: $1000

2nd place: $500

3rd place: $250

5 merit awards: $50 each

Jack Wasserbach Award for B&W Photography (courtesy of the Image Makers of Monterey County): $250

People’s Choice Award: $150

Eligibility and Entry Fees
To enter, you must be a CPA member. Not a member? Join today! The 2026 Members Juried Exhibition (MJE) is open to all living photographers, worldwide, over the age of 18, working in all still photographic media, provided they are a CPA member. There is no theme; any subject matter is eligible. 
•  For non-members, you are welcome join by accessing the CPA membership page at https://www.photography.org/membership and join at the level of your choice. 

The entry fee is $35 for 3 images and additional entries are encouraged. $5 for each additional image.

$35.00       For 3 images, for current CPA members 
$5.00/ea    Up to seventeen additional images may be entered (twenty total)

Entering the 2026 CPA Members’ Juried Exhibition

How to Enter
All entrants need to use the CallForEntry (CaFE) online entry system.

1.     Access the CaFE site and create a free personal account. https://www.callforentry.org/

2.     Here’s the direct link to the CPA Members’ Juried Exhibition: https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=12894

3.     Upload your files into your CaFE portfolio with these specifications:
Image resolution:  1920 pixels (long dimension) @ 72 ppi

Profile:  AdobeRGB(1998).  Save file as an 8bit Jpeg. Files must not exceed 5MB.

Please remove any visible names, titles, watermarks, etc.

Please note: Selected images and titles will be printed in the exhibition catalog directly from the information accompanying each file. Your personal information and image data will be our only source of information. Be certain that your name, titles, dates, dimensions, sales prices, and medium (archival pigment, platinum, silver gelatin, etc.) are accurate. Please title each image; "Untitled" is not allowed.

Notification and Submission of Artwork:  All entrants will be notified of the results via automated email after February 20, 2026.  Check your spam or junk folders for this notice.

For invited gallery artists ONLY (online artists do not send artwork) artwork needs to arrive at CPA no later than Thursday, March 19, 2026. Work delivered after this date will not be exhibited.

Preparing your image for exhibition
All artwork for display in the gallery must be ready-to-hang, except for sculptural pieces and 3D works that will be displayed on a pedestal or shelf. Framed pieces can be wood or metal and in any style or profile and must be glazed with acrylic Plexiglas only; absolutely no glass.  Mounted prints are welcome as long as they have some hanging method. Matted but unframed work will not be displayed. Your finished piece should not exceed 30 inches on the long side and weigh less than 10 pounds, with hanging wire or cleat securely attached to the back of the frame. Please no saw tooth hangers. Diptych, triptych, multiple images, etc. should not exceed 30 inches combined on the long side. For the safety of your piece and our gallery visitors, no exceptions will be granted for these framing requirements.

Delivery of Art
Accepted work needs to arrive at the Center for Photographic Art no later than Thursday, March 19, 2026 via only Federal Express or UPS. No USPS please. Hand deliveries are welcome during gallery hours, Wednesday - Sunday, Noon - 4:00pm.

If you ship your work please use sturdy, reusable packaging -- we will use the same packaging to return the piece to you. You may use reusable fiberboard containers or sturdy cardboard boxes, with additional bubble wrap and cardboard for shock protection. Use of Styrofoam peanuts or similar loose packaging material is not allowed and the piece will not be unpacked or exhibited.
 
Only FedEx or UPS deliveries will be accepted. Sorry, USPS is not allowed (USPS does not deliver to the Sunset Center. Please include a prepaid return-shipping label with additional insurance if desired for the return of your work. No cash, personal checks or stamps please.

Prints that do not meet our requirements, arrive late or damaged, cannot be hung properly, or are deemed by the jurors and CPA to be of poor quality will be not be exhibited. While your work is in our possession, in the event of loss, damage or theft, CPA's liability is limited to replacement cost of materials only. A signed Exhibitor Agreement needs to accompany your work or be completed upon our receipt of the piece.

Schedule:
MJE Submissions Open: January 1, 2026

MJE submissions Close: February 9, 2026 (11:59pm MT)

Artist’s notified via email after: February 20, 2026

Invited artists’ artwork delivered by: March 19, 2026

MJE Exhibition: March 28-May 10, 2026

Reception and awards presentation: March 28, 4:00-6:00pm

Center for Photographic Art - Meaning Made Visible - Please join CPA! Members receive the monthly newsletter, focus, and enjoy exclusive benefits and discounts on events, workshops and lectures. CPA depends on our members and welcomes donor and corporate underwriting that helps CPA deliver world class exhibitions, lectures and other vital programming.

Application Requirements

How to Enter
All entrants must use the CallForEntry (CaFE) online entry system.

1.   Access the CaFE site and create a free personal account. https://www.callforentry.org/
2.   Upload your files into your CaFE portfolio with these specifications:
Image resolution:  1920 pixels (long dimension) @ 72 ppi

Profile: AdobeRGB(1998).  Save file as an 8bit Jpeg. Files must not exceed 5MB.

Please remove any visible names, titles, watermarks, etc.

Please note: Selected images and titles will be printed in the exhibition catalog directly from the information accompanying each file. Your personal information and image data will be our only source of information. Be certain that your name, titles, dates, dimensions, sales prices, and medium (archival pigment, platinum, silver gelatin, etc.) are accurate. You MUST title each image; "Untitled" is not allowed.

Eligibility Criteria

To enter, you need to be a CPA member. Not a member? Join today!
•  For non-members, you are welcome join by accessing the CPA membership page at https://www.photography.org/membership and join at the level of your choice.  

The 2025 Members Juried Exhibition (MJE) is open to all living photographers, worldwide, over the age of 18, working in all still photographic media, provided they are a CPA member. There is no theme; any subject matter is eligible.