How many invitees will be asked to submit? Who?
How many invitees will be accepted?
How many non-invitee pieces will be accepted?
Will the invitee pieces be juried?
Will the invitee pieces have to be relevant to the theme?
In what other way are the invitees and non-invitees treated differently?
Without this information and considering past practice it is difficult to even think about submitting.
Peter,
I can give answers to some of your questions from a participant point of view.
I have had the good fortune to have been juried into the AAW shows in Fitchburgh(local club jury for the national show), Orlando, Louisville, and Portland.
I was also invited to participate in San Jose and Tampa.
Generally the show is targeted to be 1/3 invitees and 2/3 juried. Numbers vary but usually 10-15 invitees, 25-35 juried.
If there is light turnout of juried submissions, the exhibitions committee will invite more.
Invitee pieces are not juried, the invitee is responsible for shipping to the site, invitee must provide a statement showing relevance to the theme, and invitees do not pay the entrance fee. I know of one invited piece that was rejected as inappropriate.
Getting selected is a great experience. Getting invited is an honor.
The jury process is always an interesting one and skewed with the biases of the jury. That is just the way it is.
One juror will pick a piece the next juror won't.
Any AAW member doing work they are proud of and getting positive feed back, I would encourage you to make a submission.
Not everyone will get selected.
Well done photographs are definitely a plus.
Good luck,
Al