• One prize of $5,000 and five honorable mention awards of $100 each
• Open to photographers residing in the USA
• Open to one photograph taken  in the USA after January 1, 2015
• Jurors: Tracie Davis, Photographer and Art Director for Zola.com, Brooklyn, New York; Karen Irvine, Chief Curator and Deputy Director, Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago; and Carol McCusker, Curator of Photography, Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, Gainesville
• Enter online with CaFÉ at www.callforentry.org
• Maximum of one entry per photographer
• Non-refundable Entry Fee of $28. Payable online with a credit card
• A brick and mortar exhibition in the Naples Art Association at 585 Park Street, Naples, Florida from June 3 through July 5, 2019

All photographers residing in the United States are invited to submit one photograph taken in the United States after January 1, 2015 for Camera USA® 2019: National Photography Exhibition and Award. Now in its 9th year, Camera USA® is a national competition created by the Naples Art Association to inspire and encourage photographers of all skill levels and from all regions of the United States. The program features three professional jurors, one cash prize of $5,000 and five $100 honorable mention awards. Camera USA® 2019 will culminate with a brick and mortar exhibition held at the Naples Art Association from June 3 through July 5, 2019. The Naples Art Association is located at 585 Park Street in Naples, Florida in the heart of the 5th Avenue South shopping, dining and entertainment district.

National Photography Exhibition and $5,000 Prize

One photographer will be nominated for the National Photography Award. The Award Nominee will be notified by telephone or email on May 14, 2018. In order to qualify for the $5,000 prize, the Award Nominee must pledge to attend the Naples Art Association’s preview reception and awards presentation on May 31, 2019, arrive by no later than 6 pm EDT and accept the prize check in person. A maximum of 80 photographs will be included in the Camera USA® 2019 exhibition.

Travel and Hotel for National Photography Award Nominee

A National Photography Award Nominee who is residing in the State of Florida will receive up to $300 in travel reimbursement and up to three-nights hotel accommodations in Naples, Florida. A National Photography Award Nominee who is residing outside of Florida will receive domestic round-trip economy class airfare for one and three-nights hotel accommodations (May 30, May 31 and June 1, 2019) in Naples, Florida. Ground transportation including airport shuttle or rental car will be the Award Winner’s responsibility and will not be arranged or reimbursed by the Naples Art Association.

Prior Camera USA® National Photography Award Winners

Prior winners are Christer Berg of Raleigh, North Carolina in 2018; Brian Malloy of Plympton, Massachusetts in 2017; Art David of Naples, Florida in 2016; Kathleen Brennan of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico in 2015; Brett Grandson of Duluth, Minnesota in 2014, Tony Hertz of Pismo Beach, California in 2013; Jon Malis of Washington D.C. in 2012 and David E. Wensel of Geneva, Illinois in 2011.     

 About the Three Jurors

Tracie Davis

Tracie Davis is a Photographer and Art Director for Zola.com. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Davis earned a Master of Arts degree in Historical and Contemporary Photography from the Sotheby's Institute of Art in London, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. In graduate school she specialized in contemporary photography from Iran and later worked as a post-graduate intern in the archives of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Following the Metropolitan she worked in the Digital Collections department at the Brooklyn Museum for two years before entering the commercial photography world. For the past four years she has started and grown the photography and video department at Zola.com, an e-commerce startup specializing in the wedding space. As the Senior Photographer she is responsible for product, lifestyle and marketing imagery for the site and brand. 

Karen Irvine

Karen Irvine is Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. She has organized over fifty exhibitions of contemporary photography, at the MoCP and other venues including the Hyde Park Art Center;  Rockford Art Museum; Lishui International Photography Festival, China; Daegu Photography Biennale, South Korea, and the New York Photo Festival. Irvine has contributed texts to many publications including FOAM, Art on Paper and Contemporary magazines and monographs including Paula McCartney: Non-flights of Fancy (Princeton Architectural Press); Barbara Probst: Exposures (Steidl); Redheaded Peckerwood by Christian Patterson (MACK), and Stefan Heyne Speak to Me (Hatje Cantz), amongst others. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography from FAMU in Prague, Czech Republic, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and International Relations from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Carol McCusker 

Carol McCusker is the Curator of Photography at the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and a Master of Arts degree and Ph.D. in Art History with an emphasis on Photography from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Prior to that, she was Curator of Photography at the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA), San Diego, where she curated over 35 exhibitions. While in Southern California, she was Adjunct Professor at the University of California San Diego and the University of San Diego, teaching the History of Photography.

McCusker won the 2011 Ansel Adams Fellowship from the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson for original research on several pivotal 1970s events that elevated the currency of photography worldwide. She was the 2010 Juror for the International Center for Photography, New York, Infinity Awards along with Gallerist Peter MacGill and Aperture Director, Chris Boot; and Juror for the New Orleans Photo Alliance, and reviewer for FotoFest/Houston, Critical Mass/Portland, and many others nationwide. From 2007 to 2011, she was a staff writer for Black & White and Color magazines, and wrote for Public Culture (Duke University Press), Communication Arts and The Photo Review.

Enter Online with CaFÉ

Use CaFÉ to enter Camera USA® 2019. CaFÉ accounts are free, easy to set up and do not expire. After setting up your account and creating a portfolio of artwork images, you may enter current national competitions hosted by the Naples Art Association (such as National Art Encounter exhibitions, Founders Juried Awards exhibitions, and the annual Camera USA® photography competition) as well as competitions hosted by other organizations around the country and the world. To get started go to callforentry.org, click on the “Help” tap and then “How to Apply” tab.

Eligibility 

Photographers residing in any of the fifty States in the USA are eligible to enter one photograph taken in the United States after January 1, 2015 and not exhibited in the Naples Art Association’s galleries within the past 12 months. Photographs must remain on display for the entire duration of the Camera USA® 2019 exhibition.

Non-Refundable Entry Fee   

A $28 non-refundable entry fee covers the processing of your entry. There is a limit of one photographic entry per person. The non-refundable entry fee is payable online by credit card during the entry process.  

Size Limitation: Maximum overall dimensions (including frame, if a frame is used) are not to exceed 40 x 40 inches. When completing your application, enter the overall dimensions, including the framed if a frame is used.

Presentation and Size Limitations for Glass

Photographs for the Camera USA® 2019 exhibition must be delivered in exhibition ready condition. Photographs must be ready to hang with a proper hanging wire and raw wire ends taped. Photographs mounted on metal or acrylic can be equipped with a French cleat for hanging. Sawtooth hangers are not permitted. For safety reasons, glass may be used only if the frame is 20 x 20 inches or smaller. Larger frames requiring a glazing must have Plexiglas or another type of shatterproof glazing.

Jury Process Results Notification

Notifications will be posted in the users CaFÉ account by March 22, 2019. To view the status of your entry, log into your CaFÉ account and click on “My Applications.” Shortly before results are posted an email notification will be sent to the email address in your CaFÉ account. For photographers invited to participate in the exhibition, a PDF file will be attached to the email message with instructions and addresses for hand delivering or shipping. It is your responsibility as an entrant to log into your CaFE account and check the status of your entry. It is also your responsibility to have a current and valid email address entered in your CaFÉ account.

Artist’s Statement

An artist’s statement of not more than 2,000 characters is required with your entry. Characters include all punctuation and spaces. Statements provide information and your insight for the jurors. If you are invited to exhibit your photograph, the artist’s statement you submit with your entry will be printed and mounted in the gallery adjacent to your work. Artist’s statements cannot be changed after entering. Visitors to the galleries will read the identical statement the jurors read during the jury process. Your artist’s statement cannot be changed, edited or otherwise modified at any time after the March 4, 2019 entry deadline.

Do not include your name in your artist’s statement. The jury process is “blind” which means the jurors will not see your name when they review your entry. To avoid being disqualified from the jury process, also refrain from including your website URL or any other personally identifying information in your artist’s statement or in any of the descriptive fields for your entry.

The purpose of an artist’s statement is to help others understand the aspects of your work you think are the most important. Your artist’s statement can put readers “in your shoes” by revealing your goals and aspirations as a photographer. When you talk to others about your work, you probably address one or more important aspects behind it. Writing an artist’s statement can be merely the process of clearly stating the thoughts you express during a critique, a conversation in your studio and even during a social gathering when someone learns you are a photographer and asks, “What do you do?” Providing an artist’s statement will allow you to share your ideas and opinions even when you are not present.

Photograph Delivery

After receiving an invite notification, photographers may either hand delivered or ship their work. All shipped photographs are sent to ARTMove, LLC in Naples. You may ship your photograph as soon as you are invited to exhibit. The deadline for shipped photographs to arrive at the ARTMove, LLC warehouse in Naples, Florida is May 6, 2019. The ARTMove, LLC shipping address and contact information will be provided to all applicants who are invited to exhibit. All exhibited photographs must remain on display for the entire duration of the exhibition and the earliest date photographs may be removed from the Naples Art Association is July 7, 2019 at 12 noon.

Hand Delivery: Deliver your accepted photograph on Friday, May 10 from 10 am to 2 pm or on Saturday May 11 from 12 noon to 2 pm (delivery prior to May 11 is available by appointment and during regular gallery hours). The Naples Art Association is located at 585 Park Street, Naples, FL 34102. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm.

Shipping Your Accepted Photograph: Photographers invited to exhibit, who are not hand delivering, will ship their work to ARTMove, LLC in Naples, Florida to arrive by no later than May 6, 2019. The ARTMove, LLC address and contact information will be provided in the jury-process notification email sent to all applicants who are invited to exhibit. Exhibitors are responsible for the cost of transporting their photograph to and from Naples, Florida. Shipped photographs must include a FedEx or UPS prepaid return shipping label, or a FedEx or UPS account number for return. Return shipping to PO Boxes is not permitted. ARTMove, LLC will receive and return all shipped photographs.

Use care when packing your photograph. Cushion it on all sides with at least 4 inches of packing material and pack in a sturdy shipping carton. Popcorn (loose foam) is not an acceptable packing material as it will allow your photograph to shift during transit. Airfloat Systems sells excellent cushioned-shipping “Strongbox” containers that are sturdy and reusable. Enter code NAA when ordering online to receive a 20% discount on all orders. See https://airfloatsystems.com/strongbox/. FedEx Office locations sell lightweight boxes specifically designed for shipping artwork https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shipping/packing-boxes/services.html#specialtyboxes.

Please note: The Naples Art Association and ARTmove LLC are not responsible for photographs damaged during shipment. The Naples Art Association reserves the right to disqualify damaged photographs from the exhibition.

Preview Reception and Awards Presentation

On Friday, May 31, 2019 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm the Naples Art Association will host a preview reception and awards presentation for the Camera USA® 2019 exhibition at 585 Park Street in Naples. The Camera USA® 2019 National Photography Award Nominee will be announced during the reception and must be present by no later than 6 pm EDT in order to qualify for the cash prize. Honorable mention winners will also be announced and their awards will be presented. The preview reception is complimentary for Naples Art Association contributors and exhibiting photographers. For all others there is a $10 suggested donation at the door.   

Must Be Present to Win $5,000 Prize

In order to receive the prize of $5,000, the Camera USA® 2019 National Photography Award Nominee must attend the May 31, 2019 Camera USA® Reception and Awards Presentation and accept the prize check in person. The National Photography Award Nominee must arrive at the Naples Art Association by 6:00 pm EDT. There are no attendance requirements for the Honorable Mention award winners.

Gallery Hours

The Camera USA® 2019 exhibition will be on view from June 3 through July 5, 2019. It is a brick and mortar exhibition (as opposed to a web-based display). The exhibition will not be available for online viewing and the only way to experience it will be to visit the Naples Art Association. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Admission is free.  

Sales 

Photographs exhibited in Camera USA® 2019 may be available for purchase or listed as NFS (not for sale). The Naples Art Association processes sales and will retain a 30% commission on all artwork sold during the exhibition. Proceeds from the sale of artwork support the Naples Art Association’s exhibition programs. Photographers’ proceed checks will be mailed. Photographers should receive their checks within three weeks from the close of the exhibition and by no later than July 31, 2019. Once stated, the price of a photograph may not be changed. Take into consideration your cost for printing, framing, shipping and the 30% sales commission before establishing a price for your photograph.

End of Exhibition Pick Up or Shipped Photograph Return

Photographs will be available for pickup from 12 noon to 2 pm on Sunday, July 7, 2019 and from 10 am to 2 pm on Monday, July 8, 2019. Shipped photographs with prepaid return shipping provided will be return shipped by ARTMove LLC during the week of July 15, 2019.

Storage space is limited. Photographs should be picked up during scheduled pick up dates. If you are shipping your photograph, return shipping should be arranged in advance. Photographs not picked up by August 12, 2019 will become the property of the Naples Art Association.   

Advice to All Who Enter

Camera USA® 2019 is a competition open to photographers of all skill levels and experience. It is a competitive program and not every photographer who enters Camera USA® 2019 will be invited to exhibit. If your photograph is accepted for the exhibition, you should be prepared to print, frame or otherwise prepare your image for hand delivery or shipping.

Before choosing an image to enter, it is important to consider print quality and the cost of framing and shipping.  Make a test print at the size you are proposing for the exhibition and check your test print for good quality print resolution. Plan ahead for expenses by getting one or more estimates for framing or mounting your photograph. Check rates for shipping your photograph to and from zip code 34108 in Naples, Florida by calling FedEx at 1.800.GoFedEx (463-3339) or by using their online shipping rate estimator and transit time tool at https://www.fedex.com/ratefinder/home?link=4&cc=US&language=en.

Waiver 

Due care will be taken with all photographs. However, the Naples Art Association will not be held responsible for loss or damage to exhibited photographs. The Naples Art Association recommends Camera USA® 2019 exhibition participants acquire insurance to cover loss or damage.

Calendar for Camera USA® 2019

March 4, 2019, Entry Deadline

March 22, 2019; Notification Date (notification posted to CaFE accounts and emails sent)

May 6, 2019; Shipped Artwork Deadline (ship to ArtMove, LLC any time after receiving an invitation to exhibit. Your photograph should arrive in Naples before this date.)

May 10, 2019 from 10 am to 2 pm; Artwork Receiving (or on an earlier day by appointment)

May 11, 2019 from 12 noon to 2 pm; Artwork Receiving

May 13, 2019; Camera USA® 2018 Award Nominee Notified

May 31 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Reception and Awards Presentation

June 3 - July 5, 2019; Exhibition On View with Free Admission

July 7, 2019, 12 noon to 2 pm; Artwork Pick-up

July 8, 2019, 10 am to 2 pm; Artwork Pick-up

Week of July 15, 2019; Photographs with return shipping arrangements made in advance will be return shipped by ARTMove, LLC

Contact Person: Jack O’Brien, (239) 262-6517 ext. 106, jack.obrien@naplesart.org

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria