East Austin Young Artists Can Enter Congressional Art Contest

EAST AUSTIN, TX — The District 25 art competition is now under way.

High school student residing within the 25th Congressional District are invited to participate in the Artistic Discovery Contest launched 36 years ago. Applicants are eligible to submit one piece of artwork which should be emailed as an attached photo (include dimensions) by Monday, April 30 to Evan.Blauser@mail.house.gov.

Three winners from the district will be chosen by Monday, May 8. Winners will be sent a FedEx label to ship their artwork to the district offices in Washington, D.C. All entries must be: original in concept, design and execution; two-dimensional; framed; and weigh no more than 15 pounds (including frame) and measure no more than 26 inches wide by 26 inches tall by 4 inches deep (including frame).

Eligible entries can be:

• Paintings – including oil, acrylics and watercolor.
• Drawings – including pastels, pencil, colored pencil, charcoal, ink and markers.
• Collages – must be two dimensional.
• Prints – including lithographs, silkscreen and block prints.
• Mixed media – use of more than two mediums such as pencil, ink, watercolor.
• Computer-generated art.
• Photographs.

Entries must be original in concept, design, and execution and may not violate U.S. copyright laws. Any entry that has been copied from an existing photo or image (including a painting, graphic or advertisement) that was created by someone other than the student is a violation of the competition rules and will not be accepted.

Moreover, entries must be in the original medium (that is, not a scanned reproduction of a painting or drawing). The Art Competition Release Form must be completed with each piece of art.

The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982 to provide an opportunity for members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents. Since then, more than 650,000 high school students have been involved with the nationwide competition. The 25th Congressional District covers a wide swath from Fort Worth to East Austin.

Southwest Airlines offers each first-place Congressional Art Competition winner two round-trip tickets to attend the reception on June 27 . There will be a winners' reception in June. Second- and third-place winning entries will be displayed in the district offices.

For more information, you can visit the Congressional Art Competition website. Here's some video highlights from last year's competition:

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