Call for Submissions for the 103rd Hart House Camera Club Annual Exhibition is now open!
To submit your photography for consideration, please review the Exhibition Rules below. To submit your digital photos, please fill out the submission form before 11:59 pm, January 31, 2025.
Exhibition Rules
I. Categories and Awards
Photographers may submit a total of nine images with a maximum of three images in each category, except the Photographic Essay category. The rules for the Photographic Essay category are listed below. While it is permitted to enter the same photo in multiple categories, a photo cannot win an award in more than one category. The jury reserves the right to move the submission to a different category as it sees fit.
Altered Images – W.J. Blackhall Award
This category is for photographs that have been significantly manipulated for artistic purposes. Manipulations can include composite images, cutting/pasting/cloning, exaggerated dodging, burning, exposure, contrast, brightness, saturation, sharpness adjustments, filter effects, AI, etc. Your submission must include a paragraph or point-form summary of the manipulations performed on the photo.
Campus Life Photography – Yousuf Karsh Award
Images that capture campus life and campus activities at one of the University of Toronto campuses.
Film Photography – A.F. Coventry Award, Mastery of Execution
The subject matter is open – this category is based on the mastery of photographic techniques. The jury will evaluate, among other considerations, exposure, focus, dynamic range, colour saturation and balance, composition, and attention to the depth of field. Submissions may be commercially developed and printed. Black and white, monochrome, and colour film prints are accepted. To apply, please submit a scanned copy.
Film Prints – A.F. Coventry Award, Mastery of Printing
The subject matter is open – this category is based on the technical excellence of the final print. Submissions must be printed by the photographer in a darkroom or in accordance with other traditional or nontraditional analogue methods. Black and white, monochrome, colour film prints, as well as polaroid transfers and other alternative process prints, are accepted. To apply, please submit a scanned copy.
People Photography – William J. Dowkes Award
This category is for photographs with the subject matter ‘people,’ including candid, documentary, and photojournalism-style photographs.
Photographic Essay – Bev Best Award
Each photo essay must consist of at least 3 and not more than 12 individual photographs. Every essay must have a title, and individual captions (25 words or fewer) OR an essay description (maximum 200 words). The jury is especially interested in photographic essays that demonstrate narrative as well as photographic excellence.
Portrait Photography – Art Chow Award
This category is for portraits, posed or otherwise, including photos taken in a studio setting. Both digital and matted print submissions are accepted.
Urban Life Photography – William J. Dowkes Award
This category is for photographs with the subject matter ‘urban life,’ including architecture, cityscapes, events in urban settings, etc.
Gilbert A. Milne Award
This award is given to the entrant having the highest number of accepted images (including runners-up and honourable mentions). In the event of a tie, the award will be made to the entrant having the highest percentage of winning prints.
Best in Exhibition
This award is given to the top submission, as selected by the jury, from the nine individual category winners.
II. Procedure and Important Dates
The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2025, at 11:59 pm EST.
Online submission only! Digital submissions are accepted for all categories including Film Prints I and Film Prints II, which must be scanned. Your digital photographs must be in JPG or PNG format. The maximum file size is 10MB. The file name must be in the format “Category_ImageTitle_FirstNameLastName”.
A jury of experienced photographers will judge all submissions. The photographers whose images were selected for the exhibition (winners, runner-ups and honourable mentions) will be notified no later than February 12, 2024.
All photographers whose prints get selected for the exhibition have to print and mat their photographs and drop them off at the Hart House HUB by March 14, 2024 at 5 pm. We ask that all matted images not exceed 5mm in thickness. Please use matting board – NOT foam board – to mat your images as thick foam board will not fit into the exhibition frames. If matting your prints commercially at a shop, please request that they are not matted on foam board. Framing matted prints that are too thick may result in damage to the print and/or the mat. The Hart House Camera Club carries no responsibility for any damage that may result from neglecting this requirement.
The official opening reception will be on March 19, 2025, 7-9 pm in the Hart House Debates Room. At the reception, winners will be announced. All selected images (winners, runner-ups and honourable mentions) will be displayed in the 2nd-floor corridor of Hart House for approximately one month and will be displayed on the Hart House and/or Hart House Camera Club websites indefinitely.
All winning prints become the property of the Hart House Camera Club and will be donated to the University of Toronto Archives and Records Office.
Entrants of honourable mention and runner-up selected prints are expected to pick up their prints by May 9, 2025 from the Hart House Hub/Info Desk. Failure to do so may result in the loss of your prints.
III. General Rules
- Any University of Toronto student or Hart House member may enter submissions. A Hart House member is defined as any non-student who has participated in any registered program at Hart House (e.g. fitness centre, creative classes, a Hart House Club or Committee) from the calendar year May 1, 2024, to the present.
- All prints submitted in the Film Prints category must be printed by the entrant in a darkroom or in accordance with other traditional or nontraditional analogue methods. Prints in all other categories may be commercially developed and printed. All prints may be mounted. The recommended minimum size for all prints is 8” x 10”.
- Only images taken between the dates of January 1, 2024, and January 31, 2025, may be entered.
- Entrants must own the copyright of all images submitted. By virtue of submitting an entry, the entrant certifies the work as his or her own. While the photographer retains the copyright for his or her own images, the Hart House Camera Club reserves the right to use the material for publication and/or display in media related to the Hart House Camera Club. Photos with watermarks and logos will be disqualified.
- Prints or prints remade from negatives of prints displayed in previous Hart House Camera Club exhibitions are ineligible.
- Excluding the Altered Images category, only basic manipulations that preserve the integrity of the photograph are allowed. Manipulations include, but are not limited to: cropping, sharpening and basic exposure, contrast, and saturation adjustments including brightness/contrast correction, dodging, burning, spot corrections, curves/histogram adjustments, etc.
- While all possible care will be taken, the Hart House Camera Club assumes no responsibility for loss or damage of entries.
- The jury reserves the right to re-classify entries.
- Awards will be given at the discretion of the judges in each category. The decision of the judges is final.
- No artificial intelligence methods (AI) shall be used to generate or augment submissions.
- Entry into the exhibition implies acceptance of all of the above rules and conditions. Any images not complying with the above rules will be disqualified.