The National Council On Aging

NCOA was founded in 1950 as the first national voice for older adults. The organization helped end mandatory retirement, secured Medicare and Medicaid and the Older Americans Act which was the first federal level initiative that was aimed at providing a broad scope of services for older adults.

In 2020, as a means to spread their message and mission, the National Council on Aging launched their first call to photographers inviting the submission of artistic photographs exploring the theme Aging Well for All.

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As this was the association’s first call to photographers our team worked closely with NCOA staff to make sure the call went smoothly. Our team setup the call, prepared the introduction with branding materials and formatting, call forms, and reviewed and established upload requirements. NCOA’s only responsibilities were to share the call brief with us and to review the setup of the photography contest prior to launch.

During the active call period NCOA staff were able to monitor submissions and reject entries that did not meet their specific requirements. As it was a national call, all international entries needed to be excluded from the juror’s panel.

At the conclusion of the open call period, approved submissions were passed on to the jury for an initial keep and decline round. All images that made it through the first round of voting were then shared via a collaborative screen for group commenting and decision making.

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In addition to running their photography call through SubmitArts, NCOA opted to use two additional Kodexio services; they advertised their call to photographers in the popular C4E directory found at callforentries.com and they elected to use FolioLink as a means to both showcase the selected entries and to operate a social voting feature.

Our working relationship with NCOA continues to grow as we respond to their requests for innovative ways to feature and showcase their artists. Working with us NCOA is consistently able to provide a promotional platform where artists and photographers can gain exposure for their work.

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