Contest Rules and Dates

New Eligibilty standards for 2011
Subject Eligibility
Subject matter of the artwork must to be from any of the many Alaskan publicly accessible lands. Subjects location may be from within a village, city, borough, state or federally designated site open to the general public within the state of Alaska. The only restriction is that the subject can not be within a private or corporation owned, fee based or member based accessible area. Subject matter is to come from locations that are available to everyone and not just a few.
Acceptable Examples (but not restricted to):
• Municipal or village parks and trails.
• Alaska State Parks, recreation/public use areas, marine parks, forests, wildlife sanctuaries and preserves.
• National Parks, preserves, forests and historical sites/trails, Bureau of Land Management public use areas.
Not acceptable Examples (but not restricted to):
• Privately owned lodges, campgrounds, parks, recreation areas.
• Corporation fee permit lands.
• Private club lands with member based access.
If the general public is denied access into the location, then the location and subject matter is not eligible for entry.

Artist Eligibility
All professional and amateur artists of all ages worldwide are eligible to enter this competition. Judging panel members and award sponsors are not eligible to enter.

Criteria for Art
Judges will be looking for a variety of artistic interpretations, subjects, different parks or sites from locations all across the state. Entries will be evaluated on the artistic merit and the artist’s ability to capture the essence of and appreciation for the chosen subject. Landscape (flora, fauna and geography), wildlife, and/or historic events and elements must be accurately representative of the depicted location.
The main subject and/or dominant elements of the artwork must be from within the chosen park. Background or foreground elements may be from outside the park, but these areas must not be the most dominant element of the scene. Content subject matter depicted (flora, fauna and recognizable geography) is subject to possible authentication. Works must be original and less than 2 years old. All work that is submitted must be for sale. NO NFS.

Judging
Judging will be done by 2 judges. Criteria for the selection of judges is as such: The judges will be selected for their knowledge and expertise on evaluating representation works of 2 dimensional art. Regional experts that are knowledgeable on Alaska geography, history, flora and fauna may be contacted for authentication of questionable depiction of subjects from specified parks.

Format of Artwork
Original, two dimensional representational art only. Acceptable mediums are: oils, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, alkyd, tempera, mixed-media, pencil, charcoal, pastels, pen and ink. NO sculpture, photography, prints, or computer generated artwork will be accepted.
Size restriction (total square inches)
minimum 154 (example 11 x 14) - maximum 616 (example 22 x 28)
If work is selected to the Top 50, it must be professionally framed and ready for gallery hanging with wire. Matting must be white or off-white. A narrow colored liner is acceptable.

Entry fees
$25 for first entry, $10 for each additional entry. Limit of 5 entries.

Time Line of 2010 Events
Jan - June, Call for entry forms distributed
June 30, Deadline for entry submission (digital only)
July 6, Judging of Top 30
July 27, Deadline for the delivery of artwork
July 29, Judging of Category Winners
Aug 5, Awards Ceremony
Aug 5-19, Show exhibits Stephan Fine Arts Gallery

Awards and Prizes
• Grand Prize Winner: $1,000
• Awards of Merit;
• Best Landscape: $250
• People in the Park - Artwork depicting humans utilizing the park: $250
• Best Wildlife/Bird: $250
• The Peoples Choice, attendants of the awards ceremony vote their choice: Sponsor gift certificate
• The Peer’s Choice, the artists of the Top 30 pieces of art vote their choice: Sponsor gift certificate

Just about anywhere you go throughout Alaska you won't be to far from an eligible loctaion to help you find your inspiration.