HOLIDAYS : GETAWAYS : Winning Is a Snap : All entries are winners in annual photographic holiday greeting card competition and all originals go on display.

There are no losers among entrants in the California Museum of Photography’s annual holiday greeting card competition. All original cards submitted that use some form of photographic process will be displayed in the show that runs Dec. 2 through Jan. 17.

“The show is thoroughly democratic in that we accept all cards--from fine artwork to drugstore cards that incorporate family photos,” said Ed Earle, curator of the museum administered by UC Riverside. “It’s a creative, imaginative way to donate work to the museum.”

Past entries have ranged from Hallmark cards imprinted with photos to wine bottles stamped with photo greeting labels. Some entries are wall-size, others are Cubist-inspired and some incorporate digital recordings of the sender’s voice.

“It’s amazing to see 20 or 30 years’ worth of kids growing up as their clothing and hairstyles changed,” said Jim Marshall, who has sent cards to the show for eight years. “It’s a special feeling to have your work exhibited.”

Marshall, who lives in Hemet and teaches at San Jacinto High School, prefers to keep his cards topical. For his first entry, he silk-screened his face on cloth and sewed it into a Cabbage Patch Doll that was then photographed. Last year, a friend took a photo of Marshall hanging an ornament on one of Christo’s umbrellas near Gorman. He titled the card “Merry Christo-Mas.”

“Lately, I’ve been making cards that incorporate a play on words,” said Marshall, who got his idea from another entrant who sent in a photograph of an empty shotgun shell perched on a twig. The greeting: “A Cartridge in a Bare Tree.”

Earle receives about 500 cards each year that accumulate in archives, accessed through appointment only. The event was started 10 years ago after staff members began receiving innovative holiday cards from colleagues and friends from other countries. “We thought, ‘Why not make this a challenge and open it up to everyone?’ ” said Earle. Cards still arrive from Italy, Japan, Ireland, West Germany, Poland and Canada, among other countries.

“Sometimes we receive work that is, well, revealing,” said Earle. “It involves nudity, but we still consider it a part of the show. We just display it up high and a bit out of the way. We would never censor cards.”

The California Museum of Photography, begun in 1973, is home to several permanent collections, including the Keystone-Mast stereoscopic collection. The display features 350,000 pieces that incorporate the popular turn-of-the-century technique that lends a three-dimensional effect to photos.

WHERE TO GO

Event: Annual holiday greeting card competition.

Location: California Museum of Photography, 3824 Main St., Riverside.

Getting there: Take the Pomona Freeway east, exit at Market Street, follow it as it curves to right for 2 miles until University Avenue, turn left and park on street. Walk one block, turn right on Main Street, which is not accessible to cars.

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, from Wednesday through Jan. 17.

Price: $2, $1 seniors and students, free to UCR students and children under 12.

How to submit: Amateur or professional photographers of any age may participate. All photographic processes are accepted, including stereography, photographic collage and hand-colored works. Cards may be any size. Submissions must include the sender’s name, address and telephone number. There is no entry fee or jury and all cards become part of the museum’s permanent collection and cannot be returned. There is no deadline for submissions.

Send to: 10th Annual Photographers Holiday Card Show, California Museum of Photography, UC Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521.

Call: (714) 787-4787.