Annual Student Competition Info

Please remember that all art majors at the level of sophomore and above are required to enter the Annual Student Competition. All work selected for the Student Competition will hang in the gallery for the remainder of the spring semester. Meritorious works not selected for the show may be displayed in the library, hallways, or other designated exhibition spaces on campus.

Spring Scholarship Awards

Entering the annual student competition is considered the ‘application’ for scholarship funds awarded at this event. If you don’t enter as required, you are ineligible to receive any of these scholarship funds. For a full description of available scholarships and criteria for selection please view all details here.

Eligibility

Any student enrolled in an art course during the past summer or fall terms, or the current spring term, even those who are not art majors, may enter work. Scholarship funds, of course, are reserved for art majors. Work submitted must have been produced in coursework since the previous Student Competition. Works previously displayed in the hallways, display cases, senior shows, or other exhibitions, formal or informal, ARE eligible for entry. Works produced independently outside of a course may be submitted, as long as they were created within the time period specified.

Entry Categories

  1. Architecture
  2. Graphic Design
  3. Illustration
  4. Interior Design: Residential Design
  5. Interior Design: Commercial Design
  6. Photography
  7. Two Dimensional Fine Art: Drawing, Printmaking, Illustration, Painting
  8. Three Dimensional Fine Art: Metals, Sculpture, Ceramics

Artwork is submitted within a category does not ensure that the category will be represented in the exhibition. All decisions regarding the exhibition of submitted works are based on the specifications provided in this prospectus and the quality of the work in relationship to accepted standards of excellence. Criteria for selection will include originality of concept, craftsmanship, quality, durability, and safety of presentation.

Entry Deadline and Submission Window

  • Friday, April 19 in Shore Art Gallery
  • It is during this time that your entry number will be assigned

Awards

  • Over $12,000 in scholarships will be awarded at the reception. These funds will be divided among annual departmental awards and the entry categories above.

Maximum number of entries

  • You may enter a maximum of 4 wall dependent works & 4 floor/pedestal dependent works. But your total number of entries should not exceed 6. 

Procedure for submitting work to Student Show:

  1. Complete one entry form for each piece you wish to enter. This form will be provided on the day of submission.
  2. Take entry form to competition staff to receive Entry Number for each piece
  3. IMPORTANT: Once you have your entry number you must fill out an online form for each submission
  4. Tape paper entry form securely to bottom or side of entry (where it can be seen)
  5. Take work to the gallery and place in area designated for category

All works entered in the Student Competition must meet the following the criteria

  1. It is preferred that all 2D works are framed; however, works will be accepted that are matted as well as securely mounted on sturdy backing and equipped with a hanging wire (See Specific Matting Instructions below). Posters, photographs, and prints must, at minimum, be dry-mounted on foam core board and properly prepared for hanging with wire (See Specific Matting Instructions below). Thus, no pinning, hanging by clips, or suspending of paper-based artworks of this kind is acceptable. Any work submitted must meet professional standards of presentation and be secure enough to safely hang on the wall for the duration of the exhibition. Paintings on canvas or mounted hardboard, if not framed, must have the sides neatly painted so as not to detract from the work.
  2. Floor or pedestal dependent works must be safely designed and reasonably stable. Works that are top-heavy or easily toppled must be mounted securely to a base.
  3. All works must be clean and dry to the touch. Charcoal, pastels or other dry media must be well sprayed with a fixative and should be covered with acetate, acrylic sheeting, or glass. No wet paint.
  4. NOTE: the quality of the presentation of your work will be part of the works overall evaluation.

Specific Matting Instructions

  1. Matted drawing must be backed with a sturdy, stiff backing. Corrugated cardboard or foam core board are ideal materials for this purpose.
  2. A postal approved mailing or packaging tape should be used to secure the backing board to the mat board, hinging the top and securing the bottom with a hidden double stick tape (also rolling a piece of tape back on itself will work). Masking tape should NEVER be used as humidity changes will cause its adhesive to fail quickly.
  3. The hanging picture wire should be attached to the backing board about a 1/4 of the distance from the top by one of two methods:

A. With the artwork attached to the backer board and the backer board attached to the mat board – Cut two 2”X2” squares from extra scraps of cardboard or mat board and loop and tie the hanging wire through a punched hole then glue the squares to the backer board with a hot-glue gun or a permanent glue like Elmer’s. Do NOT use tape, rubber cement or spray adhesive only permanent, strong glues will work.

– OR –

B. Before you attach the artwork and mat board – Punch two widely spaced holes in the backer board (the one that the mat board will be attached) and thread the picture wire through both holes and securely tie the two wire ends together to make a complete circle. At this point, attach the artwork to backing board and then attach to the mat board.