Congressional Art Competition

In the spring of every year, the United States House of Representatives hosts a Congressional Art Competition for amateur high-school artists.  The competition promotes attention to the arts by recognizing talented young artists from across the nation.  The 2008 Congressional Art Competition, An Artistic Discovery, will feature artists from high schools in every state of the nation. 

Each high school in North Carolina’s 5th Congressional district will be able to submit one entry for our district-wide contest.  The winning artwork from the 5th District contest will be featured in the United States Capitol.  

This years winner is Emily Raines and sophomore at Forsyth Country Day School.  Emily’s artwork submission (seen right) was a black and white acrylic still life painting.

Each year Members of Congress from around the country hold contests within their districts to choose winning pieces of art by high school students. Since this competition was created in 1982, hundreds of thousands of high school students have participated at the local level. The winning student from the 5th District will be invited to Washington, DC for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and will have his or her artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year.

Each school is encouraged to submit an entry from one of its finest young artists for this year’s Congressional Art Competition.  Schools are welcome to hold a school-wide competition to select your school’s submission, though the selection process is at your school’s discretion.  Winners, including two runners up, will be chosen by a panel of judges, with the first prize entry being displayed in the U.S. Capitol. 

The basic guidelines for the competition are as follows:

•    Only high school students residing in the 5th Congressional District may compete.
•    All artworks must be original and may not violate any U.S. copyright laws.
•    All artwork must be two-dimensional.
•    Artwork, when framed, can be no larger than 30" high x 30" wide x 4" deep.
•    Acceptable categories include: Paintings, Drawings, Collage, Prints, Mixed Media, Computer-generated art, and Photography.
•    The deadline for submission is Friday, May 2, 2008.

Entries should be submitted to:
Clemmons District Office
6000 Meadowbrook Mall, Suite 3
Clemmons, NC 27012

We are excited about this year’s Congressional Art Competition and look forward a field of many outstanding works of art from across the 5th Congressional District.  If you have any questions about the Competition, please do not hesitate to contact our office at (202) 225-2071.