MAKING A MARK: Call for Entries: Society of Wildlife Artists

Monday, August 04, 2025

Call for Entries: Society of Wildlife Artists - Annual Exhibition 2025

If you want to enter the 62nd Annual Exhibition by the Society of Wildlife Artists the deadline for entries is 12 noon on Friday 22nd August 2025. (Apologies for this being rather later than usual)

In my opinion, one of the best annual art society exhibitions at the Mall Galleries every year is that by The Society of Wildlife Artists.

That's because

it's uncompromising about favouring artwork which has been created after studying your creature from life (i.e. it is very much NOT a fan of the type of hyperrealist artwork done from a photo without ever seeing the animal or studying it in the wild)

The Society of Wildlife Artists seeks to generate appreciation and delight in the natural world through all forms of fine art inspired by the world’s wildlife.

displays artwork in a wide range of art media (paintings, prints, drawings, sketches, sculpture, ceramics and other 3D artwork)
highlights a wide range of styles and colour palettes
includes artwork developed from projects undertaken by the society and its artists during the year

It is emphatically not boring!

Plus it also has that huge asset known as a solid set of followers and collectors who are both faithful to their preferred artists and are also very interested in new art by new artists.

"The Natural Eye" Annual Exhibition 2024 by the Society of Wildlife Artists
West Gallery at the Mall Galleries

Call for Entries: 'The Natural Eye'

It's worth remembering that it's not coincidental that the name of this annual exhibition is "The Natural Eye". This connects to the emphasis which the SWLA places on artwork conceived, started and sometimes developed to completion while observing wildlife "in the field / sea / air" (past CFE post on this blog)

You can find detail of the Open Call for Entries for the SWLA Exhibition on the Mall Galleries website.

Below this post covers:

what sort of artwork the SWLA want to see submitted by open artists
images needed
online submission only
who can enter
what you can enter
how to submit

Plus pics of the last exhibition and links (at the end) to my blog posts about previous exhibitions and the type of artwork hung.

Key Dates are as follows

Submissions open: Friday 23 May 2025, 12 noon
Submissions close: Friday 22 August, 12 noon
Notification of selection: Friday 5 September, 12 noon (log in to OESS)
Receiving Day (if selected): Saturday 4 October, 10am to 5pm
Private View (invite only): Wednesday 15 October, 2pm to 8pm, official opening at 3pm
Exhibition opens: Thursday 16 October, 10am to 5pm daily
Exhibition closes: Saturday 25 October, 5pm
Collection of unsold work: Thursday 30 October, 10am to 5pm

There are a number of awards and prizes which you can see on this page.

"The Natural Eye" Annual Exhibition 2024 by the Society of Wildlife Artists
End wall of the West Gallery at the Mall Galleries

What kind of image should you submit

The Society is seeking works that depict wildlife subjects and evoke the spirit of the natural world.

The Selection Committee welcomes:

All forms of two and three-dimensional artwork based on representing the world’s wildlife
Artists with fresh visions that show imagination, artistic ability, originality and creativity
Artworks that reveal a personal experience or true understanding of the subject

READ the "Exhibit with us" page on the SWLA website which provides excellent advice

Who can submit

Any artist aged 18 or over may enter, from anywhere in the world.

(If you are an international artist, you need to read the section on VAT)

What type of artwork can you submit - and what will get rejected

Many of these artworks were by open artists.
I loved the slug crawling up the wall in the corner

How many artworks

You can submit up to six artworks. This is appropriate for those who are a candidate for membership of the SWLA.
I recommend you submit no more than two artworks

especially as a first timer and/or if you have submitted before and not sold.
That's because most open entry artists only have one artwork in the exhibition - unless they are very good fit with the scope of the artwork done by other members
Submitting more than two is an expensive way of finding out which are considered to be your weaker artworks

if you have submitted before - and sold - then you can try submitting more (if your subject and style have remained consistent)

The basics re size and age

Work must have been completed within the last three years and not previously exhibited at Mall Galleries.
Works should be no larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
All works must be an original creation by the artist.

West Gallery

What is wildlife - and what sort of artwork gets rejected

The SWLA is very explicit about

what is wildlife

Work should be based on representing the world's wildlife. Wildlife includes any non-domestic animal such as birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustaceans and insects.

what type of artwork they do not select for their exhibition

Work will not be accepted if it is of botanical subjects, pets and domestic animals, or decorative wares (such as vessels or tiles).

Works depicting wildlife divorced from its environment or without place, setting or context are rejected in many cases.

Biological or scientific illustrations are in most cases not permissible.

As they say

The Society receives many submissions that are obviously direct copies from photographs. Whilst some of the member artists use photographs for reference, the majority of artists create their work in response to their own experience of wildlife and spend many hours observing and sketching in the field. This knowledge of the subject is evident in the resulting work. Artists thinking of submitting should consider choosing a subject to which they can have access.
Bottom line, if you're sending in an artwork about a snow leopard, it's almost certainly going to be rejected unless you are a known big cat artist who travels and takes your own photos.

When they say "original creation by the artist", they also mean that any photos used for reference need to be YOUR photos and not anybody else's i.e. you must be able to assert copyright, which you can't do if you just copy somebody else's photo.

Animals in habitat

Animals in habitat #2

What art media is acceptable

Work may be

in any medium (except photography)
including drawing, painting, sculpture and original prints (if prints, please detail the edition total and availability).

The SWLA is keen to embrace new and innovative mediums and will accept computer-generated images as 'original prints'. However, a digital print is only considered an original print if it was created by the artist to be realised specifically as a print.

Reproductions of paintings or photographs will not be accepted.

East Gallery

How to Enter

The Submission Process

You need to register or log in to the Mall Galleries Open Exhibition Submission System (OESS) to submit before Friday 22 August 2025

Next you need to upload your image/s

in JPEG or PNG format
each file to be less than 5MB.
One image per submission must be submitted, showing the complete work.

An optional two additional images per work may be submitted
showing details (including framing if applicable).

The judges will make their decision based on these images, so please ensure that photographs are accurate and show work at its best: avoid reflections on glass, out of focus images or images that are badly angled. Sculptors especially should use plain backgrounds and the option to add multiple views per artwork.
Each artwork needs the following details:

the title,
medium,
size (cm),
year of completion,
weight (for sculptures only)
price of each work,
plus there is the option to add an artwork description.

When pricing, you may want to look at the price of artworks which sold at the last exhibition.

Last year the SWLA

exhibited 372 artworks and
sold 62 artworks (16%).
The highest price sale was £6,000.
members sold 49
open entrants only sold 13

I'd highly recommend artworks by open entrants are priced below £1,000
This society is one of two societies with the lowest number of overall sales by open entry artists. This could be because open entrants are getting their prices badly wrong.

Submission Fee

Submission fees support the not-for-profit programme at Mall Galleries. The gallery is home to visual arts charity, the Federation of British Artists (Registered Charity Number 200048).

Submission fee is £20 per work, or £14 per work for artists aged 35 or under. This is

non-refundable
includes free admission to the exhibition (normally £6).

Presentation of artwork (if selected)

What you should do

use plain, simple framing in a light or medium colour - make the art the star and do not distract attention with the frame
use frames or stretchers which are robust enough to take mirror plating with 12mm (size 6) screws. (see my post How to hang a painting - using mirror plates)

You can't see the mirror plate on the substantial box frames
as they are painted to match the wall

What you should not do

Metal frames, unprotected glass edges and clip frames are inadmissible.
do NOT frame using gilt - it's VERY unpopular
do NOT submit with any fittings and fixings on the back of frames. This is to prevent damage to other works, and because we will mirror-plates will be used for hanging

REFERENCE: Previous Exhibitions

You can read my reviews of past exhibitions below - and you can also review the artwork selected for the show in these posts and also albums on my Facebook Page

REFERENCE: Society of Wildlife Artists

website https://swla.co.uk
Facebook Page
Twitter https://twitter.com/swlanaturaleye
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/societyofwildlifeartists/
SWLA Bursaries https://swla.co.uk/bursaries

My blog posts include images of artwork in the annual exhibitions:

2024 - Review: 61st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists

2023 - Review: 60th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists
2022 - Review: Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition 2022
2021

2020

SWLA's new website and annual exhibition closing early
- which I didn't follow up on due to Ever so slightly distracted

2019

2018

2017

MAKING A MARK

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Monday, August 04, 2025

Call for Entries: Society of Wildlife Artists - Annual Exhibition 2025