National Open Art 2016 - Call for Entries

The National Open Art Competition opened for entries at the beginning of March. The closing date for entries is 10th July 2016.

• The 2015 competition attracted nearly 4000 entries and awarded around £60,000 in prizes and mentoring opportunities to 35 winning artists.
• Th 2016 finalists will be exhibited in NOA’s Winter Exhibition at Mercers’ Hall in October where the prize winners will be announced. 
The 500 long-listed entries from this year’s competition will be for sale through NOA’s website and at various exhibitions.

There are two competitions:

• one for artists living or working in the UK or The Republic of Ireland then you can enter. 
• one for children (aged 14 and under)

I'm going to focus on the adult competition in this blog post.

I have to say I find the website VERY confusing.

• It seems to assume everybody already knows what the competition is about and that they all know who can enter and how to enter!  
• In other words it gets deep into the detail far too quickly - without making the basics upfront and easy to access!
• the main problem is that all the information ABOUT the competition is under the "enter" button and is not included in the section "about the competition"!

I made exactly the same observation last year - but I don't think anybody at the competition read my post. National Open Art Competition 2015 - Final Call for Entries

I'd like to see much more information about

• the sort of artwork the competition is seeking and 
• how the prizes can benefit the artists who might apply
• who should apply

I will try to provide a digest in this post - and will continue to hope they get the website sorted before next year!

Images of some of the winners in 2015

Who can enter

In order to enter you MUST:

• a professional or amateur artist
• live, or be professionally based, in 
• the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) or 
• the Republic of Ireland (Éire).
• be aged 
• 15 years of age by 1 September 2015 to enter the Main Competition
• be 14 years of age or younger by 1 September 2015 to enter for the Children’s competition, must

What sort of artwork can you enter?

You can only enter original work

Undertakes that the work is of his/her own origination, and that he or she holds all moral and intellectual property rights in that work.

You can submit up to four artworks from a wide variety of media. 

• Paintings
• Drawings
• Original Prints (I think this means 'proper' fine art prints as opposed to reproductions)
• Photography
• Wall Hung Installations
• Digitally produced artworks, 
• Miniatures (Surface area should be no more than 100cm squared; Single objects in either the painting or drawing must not be any larger then 5cm)
• Moving Image
• Note: Sound Art is NOT accepted in this competition.

This year for the first time, a new miniatures category is being offered.

The competition for the moving images is separate from the static artwork and has its own terms and conditions

In addition:

• All artwork must be available for sale in the exhibition and via the website
• Available for all the exhibitions as advertised relating to the year of entry even if they take place in the following year.
• All static work must be designed to hang on a wall.
• For the adult competition, artwork must not exceed 153cms x 153cms (including the frame) and must not project more than 30cms from the wall.
• Your work must be submitted in a Breen SmartBag or stiffy bag www.stiffybag.com.

It is strongly recommended that the work is strategically priced in accordance with market value and NOT artificially overpriced. The spirit of the competition and the exhibition(s) is that all works are for sale at sensible prices so allowing the public to acquire and collect works of art.

I take that to mean that if they think your price is nonsensical then you won't be selected.

How to enter

• The image(s) and completed submission form(s) must be submitted online by the closing date of 10 July 2016.

Judges

The judges the 2016 National Open Art Competition are:

• Royal Academician David Remfry, 
• former Vogue picture editor-turned-curator Robin Muir, 
• the Tate’s Head of Learning, Programme and Resources Fiona Kingsman and
• film makers Sarah Cunliffe and Kathy Oldridge 

Timeline

Adult Static Competition

• Closing Date: 10 July 2016
• Online Judging of Digital Entries starts at The Arts Club, Dover Street: 1 August 2016
• Results of Online Judging: sent via email 2 August 2016. 
• Submission of artwork: Chichester University’s Brinsbury Campus, in Pulborough, West Sussex, between 24 and 27 August.
• 2nd Round of Judging (in Chichester): 30 August 2016.
• Selected artists will be notified by email on 31 August 2016. 

Who runs this competition

The competition is organised by The Chichester Art Trust. This is a charity that was set up in 1995. It administers the annual National Open Art Competition and the subsequent annual National Open Art Exhibitions.

Its aims are:

• To promote creativity and excellence
• To exhibit a wide and challenging range of contemporary paintings, drawings, original prints, art photographs and wall hung installations assemblages
• To encourage traditional as well as new techniques and skills in all five disciplines
• To encourage younger artists and art students
• To exhibit selected works in a free to access public gallery space
• To help artists sell their work online and at the exhibitions
• To widen the public understanding of, involvement with and access to art and artists
• To give the public access to high quality art at affordable prices and make the general public more aware of the quality and talent available in ‘affordable’ art