A rose is never just a rose. A rose can be a flower, a color, a gift, a memory, a symbol, a place, a way of seeing, or a moment when something rises again.

On Rose is a juried photography contest from Looking Glass inviting photographers to make intentional, visually compelling work around this expansive theme. A physical rose does not need to appear in your photograph. But the connection to Rose should be visible and meaningful within the image itself. The challenge is not simply to find a rose. It is to make a photograph that, in some way, says Rose.

Entries open July 9, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time and close August 31, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
Read the Official Rules Here.

For Looking Glass, Rose also means a new street and a new chapter. After years of being part of Berkeley’s photographic life, we now find ourselves on Rose Street, thinking about what it means to move, rebuild, remember where we have been, and keep making space for people who care about photography.

That is part of the contest too. Not because images needs to be about Looking Glass, but because the theme came from a real moment of change. Rose might mean beauty, tenderness, grief, resilience, celebration, color, community, memory, resistance, or renewal. It might be literal. It might not be. What matters is that the photograph carries the connection.

We are looking for images that feel considered. Photographs with a point of view. Photographs that show us something the photographer noticed, felt, questioned, or chose with care.

How Entry Works

Entry is handled through the Looking Glass website using a sliding-scale contribution. Choose the amount that feels right to you. Contribution options: $5, $10, $15, $20, $25, $30, $40, or $50.

Your contribution helps cover platform, administration, presentation, and exhibition-related costs while keeping participation open regardless of financial means. The amount you choose has no effect on eligibility, judging, selection, or awards. One valid Looking Glass Order # allows you to submit up to three photographs through our image submission platform, Zealous. After checkout, you will receive a confirmation email with your Order # and a link to submit your photographs.

• Each entrant may submit up to three individual photographs. Each photograph must be submitted separately through Zealous and assigned to one category. You may submit all three photographs to the same category, or you may spread them across different categories.


• Photographs may be made with film, digital cameras, or camera-equipped devices. Older photographs are welcome as long as they are your original work and do not violate another contest’s exclusivity or rights restrictions.


• Submitted images should not include visible watermarks, signatures, logos, captions, borders, or identifying text.


• Finalists and selected photographers may be asked to provide a larger file for exhibition, publication, or promotional use.

Entries will be reviewed anonymously by three Bay Area photographers: Becky Jaffe, Sarah Deragon, and Brandon Ruffin. Judges will evaluate photographs on their relationship to the theme, visual voice and emotional resonance, and photographic execution.

Before judging begins, Looking Glass will complete an administrative review to confirm that submissions are complete, eligible, and connected to a valid Shopify Order #. Eligible photographs will then be reviewed anonymously. Judges will not see entrant names, contact information, Shopify Order #, contribution amount, or AI disclosure information. Photographs will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Interpretation of Rose, 40% - Does the image create a clear, imaginative, and meaningful relationship to the theme?


• Visual voice and emotional resonance, 40% - Does the photograph feel authored, memorable, emotionally resonant, and visually considered?


• Photographic execution, 20% - Do composition, light, timing, color, tone, and craft support the image’s intention?