Submissions for the 102nd Hart House Camera Club Annual Exhibition is now open!
To submit your photography for consideration, please review the Exhibition Rules below. We plan an in-person exhibit, but digital and film print submissions are accepted. To submit your photos, please use the submission form before 5 pm, January 31, 2024.
Exhibition Rules
I. Divisions and Awards
The exhibition will consist of nine divisions.
Entrants may submit a total of 9 submissions with a maximum of 3 in each division. While it is permitted to enter the same photo in multiple divisions, a photo cannot win an award in more than one division. The jury reserves the right to move the submission to a different division as it sees fit.
Film Prints I – A.F. Coventry Award, Mastery of Printing (Former Sr. Black and White Prints)
The subject matter is open – this division 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. Only matted print submissions are accepted.
Film Prints II – A.F. Coventry Award, Mastery of Execution (Former Sr. Black and White Prints)
The subject matter is open – this division 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. Only matted print submissions are accepted.
Portraiture – K.B. Jackson Award (Former Jr. Black and White Prints)
This division is for portraits, posed or otherwise, including photos taken in a studio setting. Both digital and matted print submissions are accepted.
People – William J. Dowkes Award
This division is for photographs with the subject matter ‘people’, including candid, documentary, and photojournalism-style photographs. Both digital and matted print submissions are accepted.
Places – William J. Dowkes Award
This division is for photographs with the subject matter ‘places’. Both digital and matted print submissions are accepted.
Nature – William J. Dowkes Award
This division is for photographs with the subject matter ‘nature’. Both digital and matted print submissions are accepted.
Altered Images – W.J. Blackhall Award
This division is for photographs that have been significantly manipulated for creative artistic purposes. Your submission must include a paragraph or point-form summary of the manipulations performed on the photo. Manipulations can include, but are not limited to: composite images, cutting/pasting/cloning, exaggerated dodging, burning, exposure, contrast, brightness, saturation, sharpness adjustments, filter effects, etc. Both digital and matted print submissions are accepted. Note that the description of manipulations performed on the photo must be submitted using the online submission form for both digital and print submissions.
Campus Life Images – Yousuf Karsh Award
The subject matter must consist of images that capture campus life and campus activities at the University of Toronto. Both digital and matted print submissions are accepted.
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.
For film print submissions: Photos must be mounted on a mat board individually or as a group. Each photo must not exceed 8″ x 10″, and the total essay size must not exceed 8 square feet.
For digital submissions: Each photo essay must be compiled digitally and submitted as a PDF, JPG, or PNG file. Captions should be included in the digital compilation OR essay descriptions can be submitted separately.
The Gilbert A. Milne Award is an additional award given to the entrant having the highest number of accepted prints (including runner-ups and honourable mentions). In the event of a tie, the award will be made to the entrant having the highest percentage of winning prints.
II. Procedure and Important Dates
The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2024, at 5:00 pm.
There are two possible ways to submit your photographs:
Online submission: Digital submissions will be accepted for all divisions except Film Prints I and Film Prints II, which must be print submissions. Your digital photographs must be in JPG or PNG format. The maximum file size is 10 MB. The file name must be in the format “FirstNameLastName_ImageTitle_Division”.
You must submit your digital photographs via the provided online submission form.
Print submission: Print submissions will be accepted for all divisions. Entries must be mounted on a 16” x 20” mat board or photographic mounting board. Prints can be any size within this limitation, but the minimum recommended size is 8” x 10”. Only one print is allowed per mounting board (except in the photographic essay division). You can drop off your entries at the Hart House HUB. Each entry must have a completed entry form attached to the back of the mat board. The entry form is available here.
A jury of experienced photographers will judge all submissions. The entrants of the selected prints (winners, runner-ups and honourable mentions) will be notified no later than February 12, 2024.
If the entrants submit their photographs using the online submission form, they will be asked to print and mat their photographs and drop them off at the Hart House HUB by March 13, 2024. 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 20, 2024, at 7 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 Camera Club website 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 non-selected print submissions for film prints are expected to pick up their prints at the Hart House HUB by March 19, 2024. Entrants of honourable mention and runner-up selected prints are expected to pick up their prints by April 30, 2024. Failure to do so will result in the loss of your prints, and the Hart House Camera Club will retain the rights to use the prints as it sees fit.
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, 2023, to the present.
- All prints must be exposed by the entrant. All prints submitted in division A (Film Prints) must be printed by the entrant in a darkroom or in accordance with other traditional or nontraditional analogue methods. Prints submitted in all other divisions may be commercially developed and printed. All prints may be commercially mounted. The recommended minimum size for all prints, with the exception of the photo essay division, is 8” x 10”.
- Only images taken between the dates of January 1, 2023, and January 31, 2024 (inclusive) 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. If you are not sure whether your image manipulations fit these criteria, please email exhibition@harthousecameraclub.ca.
- While all possible care will be taken, the Hart House Camera Club assumes no responsibility for loss or damage of entries.
- The committee reserves the right to re-classify entries.
- Awards will be given at the discretion of the judges in each division. The decision of the judges and committee is final.
- 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.