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San Diego Floral Association

To promote the knowledge and appreciation of horticulture and floriculture in the San Diego region.

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SAN DIEGO FLORAL ASSOCIATION

Calling all Photographers
PHOTO CONTEST 2025

“Along a Garden Path”

Winning photograph will be featured on the cover of California Garden magazine, the longest continuously running horticulture publication in the Western United States.

CONTEST INFORMATION

Winning photograph will be featured on the cover of California Garden magazine, the longest continuously running horticulture publication in the Western United States. For inquiries or additional information email us at sdfloralphoto@gmail.com.

Amateurs and professionals alike, this is the time to showcase your favorite photograph(s) depicting “Along a Garden Path.”

The winning photo will be featured on the front cover of San Diego Floral’s renowned magazine California Garden in the September/October 2025 issue.

The San Diego Floral Association, established in 1907 with the mission to promote the knowledge and appreciation of horticulture and floriculture in the San Diego region, has always recognized the synergy between flowers and artists. From our participation in Art Alive with the San Diego Museum of Art to our dedication in publishing our informative, creative and beautiful magazine, California Garden, San Diego Floral strives to elevate and promote artistic inspiration and an appreciation of Nature’s beauty.

Entry Period

The online entry window opens February 1, 2025 12:00 noon (PST), and closes March 31, 2025 at 11:59 pm (PDT). No early or late submissions will be considered.

Entry fee revenue will support the mission and educational programs of the San Diego Floral Association, a non-profit organization.

CONTEST RULES AND INFORMATION

Theme

Along a Garden Path

A suitable pathway can transform a garden. It may offer an inviting entry that encourages garden exploration. A path can be an aesthetically pleasing main feature of a garden.

Alternatively, a garden path may be a element meant only to guide visitors to what is interesting and beautiful in the garden.

How you wish to interpret this theme in your photo is up to you. The garden pictured may be a public garden, a home garden, a community garden or landscaping at a business, school or public building. We seek a response to what you are seeing in the garden and how well your image conveys the beauty, intrigue, wonder or interest you have discovered. When you visit a garden what do you and your camera see?

 

ENTRY INFORMATION

Guidance on image content:

Photo must include a garden path or a suggestion of one (garden’s edge, sidewalk, etc.).

Insects or animals found naturally in the habitat are allowed, but not as the primary subject.

Do not include people, pets, staged poses or manual arrangements of components.

Judging and Awards

Award winners will be notified via email in May 2025.

Award winners and their winning entries will be posted on the San Diego Floral Association webpage and Facebook page.

Entries will be judged on originality, creativity, artistic merit, technical excellence, composition, use of color, lighting and shadows, and the technical suitability of the photograph as a cover for California Garden magazine.

The judging panel includes:

Editorial Board of San Diego Floral

Executive Editor/Creative Director of California Garden magazine

All decisions of the judges are final.

AWARDS

First Place: The winning photograph will be featured on the cover of the September/October 2025 issue of California Garden magazine, which will also carry a full page feature article on the winning photograph and biographical information on the photographer.

Second Place: The Second Place photograph and a 200 word biography of the photographer will be published in the September/October 2025 issue of California Garden magazine.

Third Place: The Third Place photograph and 200 word biography of the photographer will be published in the September/October 2025 issue of California Garden magazine.

No monetary award(s) will be given for this contest.

HOW TO ENTER

Only online entries will be considered.

Photographers may submit up to three(3) entries. NOTE: Each photograph must be entered with a separate Entry Fee and accompanied by a separate Entry Form.

START at the San Diego Floral Association Photo Contest 2023 Payment Page to pay the $15 Entry Fee.

NEXT, after payment is made, navigate to and complete the online Entry Form and upload your photograph.

Contestants may submit up to three (3) photographs.

Repeat this two-step process for each additional entry.

All photos must have complete information attached:

• Photographer’s name

• Contact information: email, phone and mailing address

• Title of photograph

• Location where the photo was taken

Incomplete information will disqualify your entry.

Entry Fee

$15 per entry, payable at the time of entry.

Entry fees from this Contest will support the mission and educational and outreach programs of the San Diego Floral Association, a non-profit organization 501(c)3 (Tax ID #95-0647745).

Technical specifications and requirements

Only digitally uploaded images may be entered.

Acceptable formats for photographs: jpg (jpeg) or png

Photos must be print ready at 300dpi.

Maximum file size: 5 MB

If we need a larger file size, we will email you. 

Photos should be vertical (“portrait”) in orientation and at least 12 inches in height (3600 pixels). The winning photo will be trimmed to an 8.5” wide x 11” high format with a full bleed. The final cover placement of the winning photo is at the discretion of the Executive Editor/Creative Director of California Garden.

Color (RGB, sRGB, CMYK) or black and white. RGB/sRGB will be converted to 4-color CMYK for printing.

Photos containing date/time stamps, watermarks or other superimposed logos will be disqualified.

Enhancements and editing/optimization of images

Photographs should represent the subject matter and the scene as it appeared at the time of capture. Photos that have been digitally altered beyond standard optimization will be disqualified.

Acceptable alterations are:

Adjustments to color, contrast, brightness and sharpness

Removal of dust and scratches

Cropping

Black and white conversions

Unacceptable alterations are:

Photo composites (a combination of two or more photos, not of the same scene).

The addition, duplication, deletion or moving of objects in the photos.

The use of artistic digital filters and effects. Examples of artistic filters and effects are watercolor, neon glow, posterizing, stained glass, tinting and others that do not show the scene in its natural way.

LEGAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

By entering a photograph in the San Diego Floral Association Photo Contest:

The Entrant attests that each submission is an original work of the Entrant and does not infringe the copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other rights of any person or entity.

The Entrant attests they had permission or were not violating any laws by being in the location where the photo was taken.

The Entrant attests they had permission to photograph the subject(s).

1. The Entrant, as the copyright owner, grants permission to San Diego Floral Association (SDFA) to use the photograph for online and print advertising, promotion and description of the San Diego Floral Association Photo Contest 2025 and all future years of the Contest, and to use the Entrant’s name, city and photo information provided on the Entry Form in connection to that use. San Diego Floral Association do not have permission to print or publish the Entrant’s email address, mailing address or other contact information for the uses described in this paragraph.

The Entrant understands and agrees that San Diego Floral Association reserves the right to crop, trim or adjust the photo to comply with print or publishing requirements for the California Garden magazine cover or for articles, Facebook and other social media, SDFA webpage, other online or print materials and other media relating to the San Diego Floral Association Photo Contest.

The Entrant understands that the Award(s) for the San Diego Floral Association Photo Contest 2023 are:

a. First Place: The winning photograph will be featured on the cover of the September/October 2025 issue of California Garden magazine, which will also carry a full page feature article on the winning photograph and biographical information on the photographer.

b. Second Place: The Second Place photograph and a 200 word biography of the photographer will be published in the July/August 2023 issue of California Garden magazine.

c. Third Place: The Third Place photograph and 200 word biography of the photographer will be published in the September/October 2025 issue of California Garden magazine.

d. No monetary award(s) will be given for this contest.

e. Decisions of the judges are final.

Privacy: The information provided to San Diego Floral Association on the Entry Form or any other form of communication will not be sold or shared, but might be used by SDFA for communications to the Contestant about future Photo Contests. Contestants will always be given the opportunity to opt out of future communications from SDFA.

Limitation of Liability:  By entering, you agree to release and hold harmless San Diego Floral Association and its subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, partners, representatives, agents, successors, assigns, employees, officers and directors from any liability, illness, injury, death, loss, litigation, claim or damage that may occur, directly or indirectly, whether caused by negligence or not, from (i) such entrant's participation in the contest (ii) technical failures of any kind, including but not limited to malfunctions or failures of any telephone network or lines, computer internet system, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant’s or any other person’s computer, mobile or any other device and/or its contents related to or resulting from participation or downloading/uploading any materials relating to this Contest, or other technical difficulties or failures or other errors of any kind; (iii) the unavailability or inaccessibility of any transmissions or telephone or Internet service; (iv) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Contest; (v) electronic or human error which may occur in the administration of the Contest or the processing of entries.

San Diego Floral Association reserves the right, in its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, disrupt, modify or suspend the Contest should (in its sole discretion) a virus, bugs, non-authorized human intervention, fraud or other causes beyond its control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the Contest. SDFA may judge submissions from all eligible entries received prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by SDFA, in which case, the awards will be determined from only those entries which were judged.

Refund of Entry Fee: Entry Fees are not refundable, except if the Contest is cancelled or disrupted by San Diego Floral Association for reasons, including but not limited to circumstances described in paragraph 9 above. In that case, SDFA will refund to the Contestant only the Entry Fee(s) associated with Entries that could not be judged.

For inquiries or additional information email us at sdfloralphoto@gmail.com.

Mission: To promote the knowledge and appreciation of horticulture and floriculture in the San Diego region.


See Past Winners

501(c)3 non-profit organization – your gift is tax deductible.

Call  Office: 619-232-5762

General Information: 
infosdfloral@gmail.com

San Diego Floral Association 
1650 El Prado, Rm. 105 
San Diego, CA 92101-1684
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