The America Issue
Call for Entries for Fall Issue of ZEKE magazine
Photo by Ghada Khunji from “US of A Color"
For eight years, ZEKE magazine has been publishing stories about the global human condition, but rarely has that involved the United States. Clearly the U.S. is part of the global community and we need to look at ourselves as much as we critically look at other parts of the world.
The Fall 2022 issue of ZEKE will focus on “America.” We accept that this term may immediately cause residents of other countries in North, South, or Central America to question why we are using this term for only the United States. Our answer to our neighbors is that culturally, the term “America” has tremendous currency such as seen with the many “American” Studies departments at universities and so many other uses of “America” when meaning the United States. From a documentary photography perspective, there are few bodies of work that have had greater impact than Robert Frank’s The Americans, published first in 1958 in France and the following year in the U.S.
The Americans was a searing critique of post-war United States—a nation trying to find itself and doing so clumsily. A nation just coming out of Jim Crow but not quite into the cultural revolution of the 1960s; the catapulting of New York as the cultural capital of the world but marching into a senseless and genocidal war in Vietnam. A nation that put a person (a man) on the moon but would still deny civil rights in much of this country.
We want to see exhibits by documentary photographers that capture the pulse of America today. One issue of ZEKE can hardly do this justice, but we will try.
How to Enter
Entering this Call for Entries is identical to creating a standard exhibit on the SDN website, except that it is flagged as an entry and you pay the submission fee after submitting your project. Click here for details on how to prepare and submit your work to SDN. When you are ready to enter, click the Enter Now button below.
Entry fee: $25
Scholarships available: See below for details
Deadline for submissions: July 8, 2022
Benefits to selected photographers
Converting Existing SDN Exhibits to a Call for Entry Submission
Existing exhibits on SDN can easily be converted to a Call for Entry submission by logging into your account, going to the exhibit you want to convert, and click the blue button at the top of the page to convert to the call. You will be prompted to pay the fee at that time.
Entry Requirements
Entries must be documentary although for this issue of ZEKE, we are defining documentary more broadly than usual. An important quality is that the intent is to tell a visual story about the subject of your photographs. If the work is more about you as an artist, then it would not be appropriate for SDN or ZEKE magazine. Composited photographs (photo collages) are accepted only if all elements come from photographs that you have taken.
All entries must have between 6 and 30 photographs related to a specific theme. The submission may also have a multimedia component to supplement the still images. Submissions must have an abstract to provide context (180 words maximum) and captions to accompany the photographs.
Additional text about the situation being documented may also be entered, as well as a bio of the photographer, information on organizations working with affected communities, and other relevant information. Photographs must have been taken after January 1, 2013 unless the work is part of a long-term project that began prior to 2013 and continues to the present.
All work must be submitted via the Social Documentary Network website. For specific image specifications, click here. Images must be a minimum of 1500 pixels in one dimension.
All entries are automatically and simultaneously submitted for exhibition on the Social Documentary Network website and must follow all rules and regulations regarding exhibits on SDN.
Exhibits on the SDN website need to be approved before going live. In the event that an entry is not accepted for the SDN website, the photographer may make changes to their exhibit and re-submit, at no additional cost, up until the entry deadline. Greater than 90% of all exhibits submitted to SDN are approved. The most common reason that an exhibit is not accepted is because it is not documentary.
All submissions will be viewable to the public on the SDN website. Once your exhibit is accepted, it will remain live on the SDN website for one year. You may choose to hide your entry from the public, but if you hide your entry prior to the final selection, it would not be available for the editors to view.
Eligibility
This Call for Entries is open to professional and amateur US and international photographers.
Entry Fees
All fees must be paid using a credit or debit card on the SDN website. International credit cards are accepted. All entry submissions and fees are final and non-refundable.
Scholarships
Scholarships are available for photographers from countries without access to credit cards or where there the submission fee would be prohibitive. To apply, send an email to scholarships@socialdocumentary.net with an explanation of your need. Requests for scholarships must be received one week prior to submission deadline.
Important Dates
Use Rights
All entrants and winners retain copyright of their work. By submission for jurying, photographers grant SDN a royalty-free license to use their images for the purpose of subsequent display on the SDN site, in SDN & ZEKE promotional materials, and in ZEKE magazine. Entries grant SDN the right to use their name for promotion in any medium including radio, newspapers, publications, television, videotape, and/or distribution over the internet. Samples of the winning work will be released to the press for promotional purposes. Photographers grant use of their images as stated without further contact or compensation from SDN other than any prizes listed. Photographer’s credit will be provided with all use.
Release
By submtting work to this Call for Entries, entrants acknowledge they have legal rights to submit images for publication on the SDN website, in ZEKE magazine, in SDN/ZEKE social media, and in exhibitions.
Entrant acknowledges that SDN may not be held liable for any loss, damages, or injury associated with this contest. Entrant agrees to indemnify SDN for all costs, damages and attorney fees resulting from any third party claims, including copyright infringement, arising from entrant’s participation.
SDN reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any entrant that fails to comply with contest and website rules and guidelines.
