Editor Interview: Dek Unu Annual Contest

Fine art photography

We focus on contemporary lens-based art, from straight to strange. Each month's featured artist is our favorite.

We focus on a single artist as the feature for each issue, including a larger than usual number of images, themed and curated by the artist alone, and we always run an in-depth interview, steering questions toward the ones that the artist wants to be asked. The artist provides a free-form commentary for each included image. We focus on each artist's "story" as much as on their portfolio and the commentaries and interview combine to add depth and texture to the story. Dek Unu promotes each month's featured artist extensively via email, web, and social media during each month and provides statistical reports on reach and engagement for each promotional posting. Paperback editions of each month's magazine, perfect-bound, full-color, 36+ pages. are available for sale and profits are split with each month's artist. Selected images and artist links for each feature are published. in our permanent collection, at dekunuarts.com, Dek Unu Gallery. There is never a fee to submit for consideration for any of our 11 regular monthly calls. The 12th monthly edition, in August, presents the five winners of our annual contest and fund-raiser, celebrating creative light and lens-based experimentation.

Accomplished, adventurous artists are invited to submit well-seen, well-made images in portfolios that hang together, follow our guidelines exactly, and contribute to the positive momentum of the magazine. We look for both interesting art and interesting artists. Jurors base decisions on the creative quality, technical accomplishment, and narrative interest of each submitted portfolio, without regard to the artist's career stage or pedigree. Because we receive so many submissions for every call, and since we only publish eleven issues per year, we are highly selective; it is a fact of life at Dek Unu that we must turn away brilliant, feature-worthy work in every submission cycle.

We look for a combination of "speech" (well-crafted images) and "story" (a coherent aesthetic impression). All genres and techniques are welcome. Beyond craft and vision, we strive, in each selection cycle, to preserve an international focus and an overall diversity from issue to issue through the publication year. As a not-for-profit, we do not have external advertiser constraints and can support high-quality inventions and hard-to-categorize artwork. We keep censorship to a minimum but steer away from gratuitous violence and porn.

Not following guidelines and not meeting deadlines are the most common sins.

The artist's project description is VERY important to our selection process. We are glad to receive an artist's statement that describes the work submitted; but we definitely prefer statements that avoid nebulous nouns, vacuous verbs, and other forms of overly-technical, art speak. Anecdotal, personal, and relatable proposals appeal to our jurors far more than pages of previous publications and paragraphs of inexplicit conceptualization. We appreciate a bio that tells what's interesting about each artist's life, preparation, and practice and we do not put a cap on the number of words. The bio provides a starting point for our artist interview and we consciously select artists who tell an interesting story. Ask for a CV/bio but we do not want to see every show, course, and review.

Although the primary focus of each issue is the visual art, there is a significant writing component for each issue. There is an opportunity for an artist's note (up to 300 words) to accompany each image in the portfolio, and there is an extended (3500 words) interview included in each issue, with questions that elicit more detail about the art and artist than a typical bio might provide.

Jurors are broad-minded, but they insist on technical excellence, issue-to-issue variety, narrative appeal, a match to Dek Unu's mission, and that "edge" that characterizes all successful art, regardless of medium. We do not do editorially "theme" issues but jurors look for a strong self-developed theme from each artist. Jurors usually must decide among several equally good portfolios and never know the direction an issue will take until the argument is finished and the dust has settled.

Dek Unu posts calls for submissions at least three times between deadlines. We hold all submissions for each call until the deadline and, after triage of non-conforming items, all jurors read all submissions; they reach a final decision collaboratively. All subs are evaluated by our editors together and all respondents are notified of results as soon after the deadline as possible.

Each issue's images are themed and curated by each artist alone. We never edit portfolio images in any way. The artist's image used for the covers of each issue may be carefully edited to fit our formats. We develop the interview in close collaboration with each artist and edit for fit and flow. Artists get final approval for online and print editions well before they are launched.

Not at this time. We provide references and a permalink to each issue for artists who might need a citation in a grant application, cv, or other support.

Sales come from donations, paperback sales, and entry fees for the single fund-raiser contest during each year.

Extensive promotion via email, web, and social media. Statistical reports to each month's artist three times during the publication month of reach and engagement figures.