Call for Entries: Wildlife Artist of the Year 2022

If you're a wildlife artist and want to raise your profile you should consider entering the Wildlife Artist of the Year Competition - sponsored by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation is association with BBC Wildlife. The deadline for entries is 11.59pm (UK time) on the 31st March 2022.

Last year the DSWF's Wildlife Artist of the Year competition broke records with 

• entries from 1,199 talented artists 
• from 70 countries 
• who submitted a total of 2,307 pieces.

This post is about:

• the prizes
• who can enter
• what to enter - in the different categories
• how to enter and the deadline

I've previously written about this competition - when it was exhibiting at the Mall Galleries - and you can read my past posts about the exhibitions at the end .

Prizes

DSWF has introduced a new emerging artist award for 2022 which celebrates first time entrants.

Prizes include 

• Overall winner and Wildlife Artist of the Year: £10,000 (including a £5,000 conservation donation to a DSWF project of the winner’s choice), 
• Runner-Up: £2,000 (including a £1,000 conservation donation to a DSWF project of the winner’s choice). 
• Each of the category winners and the winner of the newcomer award will receive £500.

The Exhibition

You should note that in 2022 - as in recent years - the exhibition is virtual and artwork can no longer be seen in person.

The sale of all shortlisted artworks will be via the DSWF website (davidshepherd.org) and other virtual media. Accordingly the quality of the digital image will be critical to the selection of an entry

No allowance will be made for poor digital images, bad quality photographs or low resolution videos. 

This was the video introducing the 2021 virtual exhibition

 

How to enter

Categories

Entries must correspond to one of the seven categories described below.  Detailed descriptions of each category are available in the Terms and Conditions.

Any pieces featuring domesticated animals (e.g. pets, farm animals) as the main feature subject do not fall under the following categories, and therefore will not be considered by the judges. 

The categories for entries are 

1. Animal Behaviour - should show a true understanding of animal behaviour, capturing moments which might be humorous, tragic, aggressive, or simply a part of their daily ritual.
2. Earth's Wild Beauty - celebrate wild landscapes and seascapes and all that live within them. 
3. Facing Extinction - Please check that your featured species is listed as ‘Under Threat’ on the IUCN’s Red List (www.iucnredlist.org).
4. Human Impact (note constraint on age of entrants - age 16-22 years) - work which makes a statement through art on how humans are having an impact on the environment.
5. Into the Blue -  illustrate the wonderful world of water – be it ocean, seashore, wetland, river or stream – and the incredible wildlife and landscapes within them.
6. Urban Wildlife - entries in an urban setting or which depict the city life of animals and plants, demonstrating a contrast and harmony between wild and urban life
7. Wings - show the extraordinary variety of winged wildlife on our planet, including birds and insects, in flight or at rest

Eligible Artists

The competition is open to both amateur and professional artists over the age of 17.

• EXCEPT for entries for the Human Impact category which are open to artists aged 16 to 22 years.

There is no residence requirement and entries are regularly sent from international artists living and working all over the world.

Eligible Art

The main conditions are:

• All artwork entered into the competition must be unsold and available for sale by DSWF during the exhibition if shortlisted
• There is no limit on the number of entries
• All entered artwork MUST: 
• be original 
• be completed by the named artist i.e. The artist must be the sole author and owner of the copyright of all artwork entered
• have been completed within the last 5 years i.e completed after 31 March 2017
• Artists using exact reference from another professional artist or photographer will need permission from the copyright owner.
• The judges will accept any medium but including original prints (but EXCLUDING photography and digital drawing/painting) 

For the purpose of this competition, an original print is a print either in black and white or in colour, drawn from one or several plates, conceived and executed entirely by hand by the same artist, regardless of the technique employed, with the exclusion of any and all mechanical, digital or photomechanical processes. Every stage must have been completed by hand by the artist

 

How to enter / Terms and Conditions and FAQs

These are the links to the detailed instructions which you need read carefully if contemplating an entry. I summarise some of this text below.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Terms and Conditions of Entry
• Online Entry Form
• Postal Entry Form

DSWF cannot accept original artwork for entry submissions or return photographs or CDs sent by post.

Method and cost of entry 

Entries can be my post or online 

• Entry is online or via the post. 
• all images submitted as an entry must be digital.  The quality of your image is extremely important as they are used in the judging process and are then processed for the virtual exhibition. The image must be 
• a high resolution (300dpi) JPEG digital image
• with a file size of 2200 pixels on the smallest side 
• no larger than 6MB.
• all artwork files must have an easily identifiable name eg labelled as ‘Artist name/artwork title’.
• the image can be submitted
• either via the digital online entry
• or via the postal form - on CD (pc format only)
• all entries must reach the Foundation by 11:59pm UK time on 31 March 2022. No entries will be considered after the closing date. 

What does it cost to enter

• The cost (per entry) to enter all categories (apart from the ‘Human Impact’ category for young people) is £25 each for the first two entries and £15 per entry for any subsequent entries. 
• For artists entering the ‘Human Impact’ category the cost per entry is £15. 
• Payment can be made by cheque, bank transfer to DSWF or card payment over the phone.

How should I price my work?

• All entries must be for sale. Do NOT enter anything you don't want sold as this exhibition aims to sell - and that includes making your sale price appropriate for the exhibition and marketplace.
• All prices need to be realistic i.e. priced for sale. Note that this competition is a bit different. Sale price will be negotiated with the artist but the final decision will be made by DSWF. That effectively means that if you enter your work and then put
• a silly high price on it so it won't sell, that DSWF can vary that so it will sell
• a low price on it that DSWF can raise it so that it's consistent with prices asked for other work of the same quality in the exhibition.

Commission

There are three commission rates:

• Sales proceeds for works exhibited at the exhibition are to be split 50/50 for sales made for the duration of the exhibition and for one month after.
• After one month, any sales made as a result of the continued promotion of the piece by DSWF will be split 70% artist and 30% DSWF
• Sale proceeds resulting from commissions taken at the exhibition are split 70% artist and 30% DSWF.

Sales

DSWF will manage the delivery process in liaison with the artist and the buyer. 

The cost of the collection/delivery of the artworks will be charged directly to the buyer including any import duties or VAT as relevant. 

This means you don't need to make any provision for delivery costs in your pricing.

Wildlife Artist of the Year: REFERENCE

• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2021 - a review of the online exhibition in 2021

The following relate to exhibitions held at the Mall Galleries before the exhibition went virtual.

• Wildlife Artist of the Year - The Exhibition June 20, 2016 - these are the people whose work caught my eye
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 - The Awards June 28 2016 - these are the people who won awards in each of the categories - plus the overall Wildlife Artist of the Year Award
• Review: Wildlife Artist of the Year 2015 July 02, 2015 - 186 artworks were selected from the 1,000 entries to the competition. A further 38 artworks were selected but not hung
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2015 - Call for Entries - 1 September 2014
• David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the Year 2014 - deadline ... 18 Jan 2014 - Summary of the Call for Entries for David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the Year 2014 - exhibition at Mall Galleries in June 2014.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013 - David ... 06 Jun 2013 Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013: Review of the prizewinners and exhibition at the Mall Galleries.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013 - Call for entries 24 Oct 2012 - Overview of call for entries for The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013 Competition.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2012 - Call for entries 16 Dec 2011 - The overall BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year 2012 wins a place for one person on a 10-day painting safari with Pip McGarry in Botswana in October 2012
• Two opportunities to be Wildlife Artist of the Year 2011! 25 Jan 2011 - The competition is open to all professional and amateur artists aged 17 and over. The top prize is £10,000 and all shortlisted artists are exhibited at the Wildlife Artists of Year 2011 Exhibition at the Mall Galleries
• Adam Binder wins Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010 25 May 2010 - Yesterday evening, at the Mall Galleries, Adam Binder's stunningly simple bronze sculpture of a polar bear on an iceberg - "Sinking Feeling" - won him the title of Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010.
• Art competition: Wildlife Artist of the Year 28 Jan 2010 - The title Wildlife Artist of the Year is awarded by a panel of judges appointed by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) and comes with a cash prize of £10,000 generously donated by the exhibition sponsors
• Exhibition review: Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009 02 Jun 2009 - You can see my photos of fellow coloured pencil artists Gayle Mason and Jonathan Newey with their work on the UKCPS News blog in UKCPS members and their art at Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009 - the online exhibition - 13 Apr 2009 - so refreshing to see the online exhibition for the Wildlife Artist of the Year some two months in advance of the actual exhibition in June.
• Two wildlife art competitions and a snow ... 28 Nov 2008 -The Wildlife Artist of the Year, run by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF), is open to amateur and professional artists alike from anywhere in the world. Artists must be aged 17 by the closing date - 30th Jan 2009.