98th ANNUAL International Competition

Entries closed on June 15, 2023

The ANNUAL is one of the oldest and most prestigious competitions in the United States. Open to local, national and international artists, The Print Center is particularly interested in highlighting the use of photography and/or printmaking in new and intriguing ways, both in content and process.

Jurors

Dr. Kimberli Gant is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, NY.

Diana Gaston is Director of Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM.

Congratulations to the 10 Finalists + 25 Semifinalists!

Watch previous award winners discuss
their experiences with the ANNUAL:

ABOUT THE JURORS

Kimberli Gant is the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY. She has spent the past fifteen years exhibiting and working with artists who create dynamic objects that generate commentary relevant to diverse communities. Gant was previously the McKinnon Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA; a Mellon Doctoral Fellow at The Newark Museum, NJ; and the Director of Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), Brooklyn. She has curated numerous exhibitions and gallery reinstallations including the Brooklyn Museum’s iteration of A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, as well as Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence & the Mbari Club (2022), Journey’s Across the Border: U.S. & Mexico (2021-22), Tuan Andrew Nguyen: The Boat People (2021), Brendan Fernandes: Bodily Forms (2020) and John Akomfrah: Tropikos (2019). Gant has contributed texts to Anywhere But Here: Black Intellectuals in the Atlantic World and Beyond (2015); NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Art Lies and African Arts; and exhibition catalogs for The Newark Museum; The Contemporary Austin, TX; the Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY; MoCADA; Paris Photo, France; and the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos, Nigeria. Gant has a BA in art history from Columbia University, New York, NY, an MA in art history from Pitzer College, Claremont, CA and a PhD in art history from The University of Texas at Austin.

Diana Gaston became the Director of the Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM in 2016. Before that, she was lead curator for the Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection, Boston, MA. Gaston has been Curator of Prints and Photographs, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque; Curator, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA; and Associate Director, San Francisco Camerawork, CA. She received a BA and MA in Art History from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, where she focused on postwar American photography and contemporary works on paper. She has authored numerous catalog essays and exhibition reviews, and overseen installations and collaborations with contemporary artists around the globe.

Tamarind Institute is a lithography workshop which began as Tamarind Lithography Workshop, a nonprofit corporation founded by June Wayne in Los Angeles, CA in 1960. In its first decade, Tamarind collaborated with artists like Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, Louise Nevelson and Ed Ruscha, while also developing extensive documentation and an educational program that would guarantee the future of lithography in the United States and abroad. 

We asked our jurors four questions. Watch their interviews above, or, read the interviews here!

AWARDS + EXHIBITIONS

• 25 Semifinalists and 10 Finalists will be selected by the Jurors.
• All Semifinalists and Finalists are eligible for institutional acquisition, purchase, cash and material awards.
• All Finalists are eligible for Solo Exhibition Awards.
• All Semifinalists and Finalists receive online portfolios and are included in a digital presentation in The Print Center’s galleries during the Solo Exhibitions.

Museum Acquisition Awards

• Stinnett Philadelphia Museum of Art Collection Award
  Selected by a curator from the Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, work will be accessioned into the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Permanent Collection.
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Purchase Award
  Selected by the curatorial staff, work will be accessioned into the Museum’s permanent collection.
• Art Museum of West Virginia University Purchase Award
  Selected by Robert Bridges, curator, work will be accessioned into the Art Museum’s collection through the Beth and Joe Hestick Acquisitions Fund.

Digital Exhibition

Images submitted by Semifinalists and Finalists will be presented onscreen at The Print Center during the Solo Exhibitions (January – March 2024).

Online Portfolios

The Print Center will mount an online portfolio exhibition for Semifinalists and Finalists, including up to five images, biographical information and artist statements. Finalists may present an additional 5 images for inclusion (up to 10).

Solo Exhibitions

Three Finalists will be selected by The Print Center to receive Solo Exhibitions at The Print Center (January – March 2024) as well as an honorarium. Selected artists will work with our Jensen Bryan Curator on the selection of works and installation design.

Artists are responsible for delivery/shipping to and from The Print Center, and other costs not explicitly covered by The Print Center, including framing (if required).

The Print Center provides:

• The venue, professional installation and deinstallation, gallery signage and labels, and insurance while work is on The Print Center’s premises.
• Publicity including visual branding for the exhibitions, promotion via press release to over 2,500 press outlets, exhibition announcement cards mailed to 2,500 individuals, website presence, weekly email newsletters to 10,000 and social media posts on Facebook and Instagram.
• Documentation, including professional photographic documentation and Gallery Notes – a full color, professionally printed exhibition brochure, distributed free of charge to visitors, and available as a pdf on The Print Center’s website.

Sales

If artworks are available for sale, The Print Center will facilitate the transaction, including shipping. The Print Center will receive a 50% commission on works sold. The Print Center will pay the artist’s commission 90 days from the close of sale.

Liability

The Print Center is not responsible for damage to work during shipping or delivery. Works are insured while on The Print Center’s premises.

CALENDAR

Submission Deadline: June 15, 2023, 11:59 PM (ET)
Notification of Semifinalists and Finalists by email: September 15, 2023
Solo Exhibitions and Digital Exhibition: January – March 2024 (specific dates TBD)
Online Portfolio: Launches February 2024

ABOUT THE PRINT CENTER

For more than a hundred years, The Print Center has encouraged the growth and understanding of photography and printmaking as vital contemporary arts through exhibitions, publications and educational programs. An international voice in print, The Print Center presents a wide variety of programs including temporary exhibitions and related public lectures and events; the Artists-in-Schools Program; the ANNUAL, which is the longest running competition for photographs and prints in the country; and the Gallery Store, which offers a diverse selection of contemporary prints and photographs for sale, providing direct support to artists. We invite you to become a Member, or find out more about how you can support The Print Center.

Contact

Direct questions to info@printcenter.org.

Click here for more information about The Print Center's ANNUAL International Competition and its history.