If you’re creating amazing art but struggling to gain exposure, art contests are a great opportunity for publicity. And if you’re living the infamous “starving artist” lifestyle, this is also a way to pull yourself out of a rough spot by potentially winning cash prizes, allowing you to gain an extra financial boost towards your dream creative projects.
There are loads of different competitions out there, from world-renowned painting contests to inspiring digital art challenges, that will place you in the art world. With so much to choose from, we’ve created a guide to help you decide which visual arts competitions are best suited to you and your artistic talents. Depending on your eligibility, you can try for these annual awards year after year.
Ready to show off your art to the world? Check out our guide to some of the best art contests to enter this year.
Painting Competitions
“Tower of Towers” by Kimball Geisler, 12th Annual PleinAir Salon Competition Grand Prize Winner
PleinAir Salon Art Competition
Prize: $50,000 in All Cash Prizes. $15,000 Grand Prize for annual competition, $24,200 in additional annual cash awards, and $25,800 in cash awards throughout the year for monthly competitions.
Entry Fee: $29 for the first entry, $12 for each additional entry (early bird fee, expires the 15th of each month). Regular Fee: $38 for the first image, $16 for subsequent images.
Requirements: Open to international artists, not just plein air artists, age 18 years of age and older.
Closing Date: Each monthly competition ends at midnight Pacific Time on the published final day of that competition. Winners are announced on the last day of the month following the competition. The Annual Competition closes on March 15th, 2025.
PleinAir magazine hosts monthly painting competitions that award artists across a variety of painting mediums. The winners of the monthly competitions will be entered into the annual competition with a chance to win $15,000. The winner of the annual competition will also see their work placed on the cover of PleinAir magazine, the #1 representational art magazine at Barnes & Noble. There are 19 categories to select from, some reserved specifically for plein air painting, while others also accept studio paintings. The winners will be showcased in PleinAir magazine, and all winners and finalists will have their work promoted online on sites like FineArtConnoisseur.com, OutdoorPainter.com, PleinAirSalon.com, and in a variety of e-newsletters.
AcrylicWorks 11
Prize: $2,000 first prize, $1,000 second prize.
Entry Fee: $40 ($35 before January 28, 2025).
Requirements: Open to artists in the United States and Canada.
Closing Date: March 25, 2025
For the AcrylicWorks 11 competition, the organizers are looking for the best in acrylic painting over a variety of styles and subjects. The eligible entries will be judged in two rounds according to artistic technique, handling of the medium, design, and creative elements, as well as overall impression and impact. Winners’ works will be featured in Artists Magazine.
Jackson's Painting Prize
Prize: £6,000 cash + £2,000 art supplies first prize
Entry Fee: £7 per entry.
Requirements: Open to international artists of all ages.
Closing Date: March 2, 2025
Jackson's Painting Prize was created to reward excellence in two-dimensional works of fine art. Both painting and drawing media are accepted, and in addition to the main prize, there are also awards for emerging artists, the best watercolor, and people's choice.
Digital Art Contests
The Lumen Prize for Digital Art
Prize: $12,000 grand prize, $2,000 category first prize
Entry Fee: $40 per submission ($30 if submitted prior to February 28).
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide.
Closing Date: May 24, 2025
This digital art competition is organized by Lumen Art Projects Ltd, a non-profit organization that’s dedicated to providing new opportunities for digital artists around the world. The contest guidelines are relatively loose—the only requirement is that the submitted artworks must somehow engage with technology. Categories include Still Image, Moving Image, Fashion & Design, Experiental, Hybrid (Digital/Physical), and Performance & Music.
Illustration Contests
World Illustration Awards
Prize: A cash prize of £2,000 and more publicity opportunities.
Entry Fee: $43 per entry
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide.
Closing Date: February 19, 2025
Anyone who’s into illustration is bound to have heard of the prestigious World Illustration Awards. Illustrators are invited to submit work created or published since January 2018 to 8 different categories. Winners will not only win a cash prize, but they’ll also be awarded invaluable global exposure, such as a marketing package in the Directory of Illustration, a feature in a major exhibition in central London, and an invitation to the Awards Evening in October.
Society of Illustrators Annual Competition
Prize: Medals, work published in a full-color catalog and displayed in an exhibition.
Entry Fee: $20 for members ($35 for non-members)
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide.
Closing Date: October 2025
The Society of Illustrators Annual Competition is known as the premier showcase for illustrators and animators. Open to artists worldwide, work can be entered in one of the six categories: Editorial, Book, Advertising, Institutional, Uncommissioned, and Surface/ Product Design. The selected entries will be exhibited at the Society of Illustrators’ gallery in New York City and be printed in full color in their annual catalog. In addition to the entry fee, there is a hanging/publication fee of $90 for non-members and $80 for members.
Drawing Contests
Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing
Prize: $2,000 first prize, $1,000 second prize
Entry Fee: $40 ($35 before April 8, 2025).
Requirements: Open to artists in the United States and Canada.
Closing Date: May 27, 2025
The Strokes of Genius Competition celebrates original work made in drawing mediums; including pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, pen and ink, scratchboard, silverpoint, colored pencil, pastels, and even some wet paint mediums if used in a linear or sketchy manner. Winning entries plus an additional 85+ finalists will be published in a special edition publication, The Best of Drawing, from the editors of Artists Magazine.
Drawing of the Year
Prize: Total prize fund of over £125,000
Entry Fee: Free
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide.
Closing Date: April 20, 2025
Run by architecture and design collective Archisource, Drawing of the Year recognizes excellence in drawing and image creation, celebrating imagery and creations across all styles, typologies, and across digital and physical media.
Pastel 100
Prize: $3,000 first prize, $2,000 second prize.
Entry Fee: $40 ($35 before June 24, 2025, $25 before March 25, 2025).
Requirements: Open to artists in the United States and Canada.
Closing Date: August 19, 2025
In the Pastel 100 art competition, Artists Network is looking for original pastels that fit into one of five categories—Animal + Wildlife, Abstract + Non-Objective, Landscape + Interior, Portrait + Figure, and Still Life + Floral. The contest is open to artists working in a variety of soft pastel. Top winners and honorable mentions will appear in a spring 2026 edition of Pastel Journal.
General Art Contests
Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize
Prize: Over $71,000 in cash and prizes to be won (overall winner receives $10,000 to develop their practice). Plus global exposure through Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s 1 million+ social media community, along with website and print editorial.
Entry Fee: $40 per entry (artists can enter up to 10 times)
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide working in the representational visual arts.
Closing Date: midnight PT on July 17, 2025
The Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, now in its 8th year, is an annual non-acquisitive international art prize that celebrates diversity and excellence in the representational visual arts. It includes all static mediums including Traditional Art media, Digital Art media, and Photographic media; and all styles from realism and hyperrealism to pop surrealism and lowbrow. The Prize seeks to inspire creatives from around the world to pursue a life and career in the arts, and to help careers grow through funding and increased exposure of their work to galleries, collectors, and media, globally.
Artists Magazine Annual Art Competition
Prize: Over $29,000 in cash prizes and publication in Artists Magazine.
Entry Fee: $40 ($35 before May 20, 2025)
Requirements: Open to artists over 18 worldwide working in a traditional medium.
Closing Date: Spring/Summer 2024
Artists Magazine’s Annual Art Competition celebrates traditional 2D artistic mediums such as painting, drawing, mixed media, printmaking, digital art, and much more. Winners will be chosen from a variety of categories including Portrait/Figure, Still Life, Landscape, Abstract, and Animal/Wildlife.
Along with generous cash prizes, this contest provides a huge opportunity to gain exposure—all winners’ work will be featured in the January/February 2026 issue of Artists Magazine.
Homiens Art Prize
Prize: $500 for 6 winners with $24,000 awarded annually
Entry Fee: $30 for one artwork, $15 for each additional artwork
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide age 18 and over.
Closing Date: Spring call, April 30, 2025
Open to all artists and all art forms, the Homiens Art Prize awards $24,000 annually and runs the competition three times a year. Winners and select finalists will also exhibit their work with Homiens.
YICCA International Contest of Contemporary Art
Prize: €3,000 first prize and solo exhibition, €1,000 second prize and exhibition opportunity
Entry Fee: €50 for first submission (up to 6 submissions possible)
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide
Closing Date: April 30, 2025
YICCA is an international call for artists, open to professionals and not only from any country in the world. All kinds of contemporary artworks are allowed in the art contest: drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, graphics, mixed media, video, installations, and performances. The jury's final decision will lead to a selection of 18 artists who will participate in the final exhibition in Venice. The overall winner will also receive a solo exhibition.
Luxembourg Art Prize
Prize: €20,000 first prize, €10,000 second prize, €5,000 third prize
Entry Fee: $69
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide
Closing Date: March 31, 2025 (group 1), June 30, 2025 (group 2), September 30, 2025 (group 3)
Organized by Luxembourgh's Pinacothèque museum, this contest is open to “any living amateur or professional artist who produces graphic or decorative artworks, without limitation based on age, nationality, or place of residence.” Thus, the prize is open to a wide variety of visual arts, including painting, drawing, installations, photography, decorative arts, and sculpture. It accepts submissions in three different groups, each with a different deadline. After the final deadline in September, eight artists from each group will be named finalists.
Wildlife Artist of the Year
Prize: £10,000 for the overall winner (including a £5,000 conservation donation to a DSWF project of the winner’s choice), £2,000 for the runner-up (including a £1,000 conservation donation to a DSWF project of the winner’s choice), and category prizes of £500 each.
Entry Fee: £25 per entry (£15 per entry for youth category)
Requirements: Open to artists worldwide (age 15 and over)
Closing Date: March 27, 2025
Organized by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, this contest encourages artists to use the natural world as a source of inspiration for a piece of art and, in doing so, raise vital awareness for some of the most pressing environmental issues our planet faces. Mediums can include but are not restricted to, oil, acrylic, watercolor, pencil, mixed media, bronze, plaster, wire, collage, and textiles, with styles encompassing traditional, abstract, monochrome, and many others.
This article has been edited and updated.
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