Congressional Art Competition

Looking for student work

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Congressman Michael Michaud and the Maine Arts Commission invite you to participate in this year’s Congressional Art Competition. The selected students will have the opportunity to have their work displayed in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol for one year, beginning in June 2012. We are looking for examples of high quality two-dimensional art.

Each year, the U.S. House of Representatives sponsors a competition for art works created by high school students from every congressional district in the United States. The program recognizes the importance of student art on a grand scale. The winning entries, one from each congressional district, are displayed in an exhibition in the U.S. Capitol for one year, beginning in June.

Finalists and Runners Up, their families and art teachers will be invited to a reception at the Blaine House in Augusta where the selected students will be recognized for their work. The Blaine House event is the annual celebration that highlights the close partnership between the Maine Arts Commission and Maine’s Congressional offices. Both of Maine’s congressional representatives are highly enthusiastic about this program and strongly encourage their constituents to apply.

First place, second and third runner up:

1. Must be a high school student: grades 9-12
2. Work must be two-dimensional
3. Work must be unframed, and no larger than 26in. by 26 in.
4. Work must be no more than 4 inches in depth
5. Each entry must be original in concept, design, and execution and not violate any U.S. copyright laws.
6. One entry per student*
7. Acceptable categories:

Paintings (oil, acrylics, watercolor, etc); Drawings (pastels, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, markers); Collage (must be two-dimensional); Prints (lithographs, silkscreen, block prints; Mixed media (use of more than two mediums); Computer generated art; Photography.

* Please note that while schools may submit multiple entries, individuals are limited to one entry per student.

2012 Congressional Art Competition Guidelines

Deadline for entries: March 30, 2012

To be considered for review, work must be submitted in digital format. Actual artwork will not be accepted for review. For further information, please contact Meagan Mattingly, Arts in Education associate at the Maine Arts Commission at 207/ 287-2790 or meagan.mattingly@maine.gov .

Image format must be a digital or scanned image saved as JPEG (.jpg) with resolution of 300 dpi or higher at 5” x 7”. When you save your image, use the following naming conventions to name your file:

• Artist name_title of image_year of work.jpg (Example: JaneDoe_Untitled_2012.jpg).
• Maximum of 72 characters in the file name.
• Name cannot contain any spaces or characters other than letters, numbers, underscore or hyphen.

Work samples must be accompanied by a Maine Arts Commission Congressional Art Competition Entry Form that can be found at http://mainearts.maine.gov/program_artsineducation_congress_guidelines.aspx. 

When you save your entry form, use the following naming conventions to name your entry form:

• Artist name_title of image_year of work.doc (Example: JaneDoe_Untitled_2012.doc).

• Maximum of 72 characters in the file name.
• Name cannot contain any spaces or characters other than letters, numbers, underscore or hyphen.

Entries will be accepted as email attachments only and should be sent to Meagan Mattingly at meagan.mattingly@maine.gov .

Please put “CAC Submission” in the memo box on your email.