Black Swan Arts Young Open 2023 - Entry Guidelines
Instructions for all entries
- Decide whether you are entering as an individual or part of a group
- Create your artwork
- Take a digital photo of your artwork
- Prepare a digital camera or phone to take the picture
- Put the work in a clear space or on a plain wall
- Make sure that only the artwork is in the photo, it is clear, bright and in focus, it is in colour
- Upload the photo onto a computer from your camera or phone
- Save the photo as a jpg/jpeg file. It must be no larger than 1MB
- Give the image a title you will remember, such as your name and title of work.
- Select either ‘Enter Young Art Open‘ if you are starting a new entry or ‘Resume Entry‘ if you are part way through your entry for the 2023 competition.
- Select one of the following options:
- ‘Register & Enter Competition‘ if you are starting a new entry as an individual, please note that a separate email address and login must be created for each individual as the profile is created for that account.
- ‘School & Group Entry‘ if you are a teacher submitting on behalf of your students
- ‘Login & Enter‘ if you are returning to an entry you have already started
- Complete the online entry form. You will need the following to complete your entry:
- Information about you, including; name, contact details and school
- The title of each artwork you are submitting, the materials you’ve used and the size
- The selling price* for your work if you are happy for it to be sold
- The jpg/jpeg image files ready to upload
- A card to use for payment
- You must follow the instructions on the screen carefully and complete all 'required' fields
- Agree that you are happy for the Black Swan Arts to use your artwork online and in print and read, understand and agree to the Terms & Conditions on this page.
*If you are happy for your work to be sold, please note Black Swan Arts take a 20% commission
Important notice: when typing, take care to take out extra punctuation from the file name and image title. So, remove extra full stops and apostrophes. Dashes/hyphens and spaces are fine. Keep the subtitle to fewer than 35 words.
You will know your entry has been successfully accepted when you get an email confirming your payment. If you don’t get that message within three days of sending your entry, please email us: exhibitions@blackswanarts.org.uk.
- All entries must be submitted online: https://competition.blackswanarts.org.uk/competitions/young-open-2023/enter
- All forms of art and craft work can be entered – painting, drawing, collage, pottery, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, photography, animation, video as well as metal work, carpentry and sculpture.
- There are 4 age groups which entrants are selected from:
- 5 – 7 years old
- 8 – 11 years old
- 12 – 15 years old
- 16 – 19 years old
- For individual entrants (see below for groups and schools) the cost is:
- £5 for one entry
- £8 for two entries
- £10 for three entries
- £12 for four entries
- Submissions are not considered complete until you have:
- completed all sections of the entry form
- uploaded images of all pieces you wish to be considered (up to four)
- completed your payment
- The maximum number of entries per person is four.
- Once you have paid for your entry, you will not be able to add additional pieces as price is set by the number of images uploaded. You can update your details however, so you could swap for another piece.
- For 3d artists only, you may upload a second image of the same piece of work. To show it from a different angle. Warning: if you submit an image showing another piece it may make your entry void. How to upload more than one image:
- upload your first image
- tick the box to confirm you agree to the terms and conditions
- save and upload
- when the page refreshes back to the 'student artwork registration' screen, click to 'edit your artwork'
- upload your second image and follow points 2 and 3 again
Each entry will be seen by our selection committee who will choose the works to be included in the exhibition. If chosen, your work will be curated, judged and exhibited for hundreds of people to see. If you are a winner your prize will be a unique, one-to-one workshop given by an inspirational working artist.
Group entries – for schools and clubs
We welcome group entries from schools and clubs.
- All entries must be submitted online: https://competition.blackswanarts.org.uk/competitions/young-open/2023
- A group entry must fall into one of the 4 age group categories:
- 5yrs – 7 years old
- 8yrs – 11 years old
- 12yrs – 15 years old
- 16yrs – 19 years old
- Each entry must be created by a single individual. We cannot accept collaborations.
- The cost of a group entry is:
- £40 for 10 artworks (credits) or less
- £75 for 11-20 artworks (credits)
- £105 for 21-30 artworks (credits)
- £130 for 31-40 artworks (credits)
- £150 for 41+ artworks (credits)
Not all pieces of work will be accepted for the exhibition
- All forms of art and craft can be entered – painting, drawing, collage, pottery, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, metalwork, woodwork, photography, video, animation and sculpture.
Credits must be bought before uploading artwork
Teachers can then add students' names
Once these have been registered the student can edit the entry and add the artwork with the log in details sent by email or stated on the online entry form.
Please contact exhibitions@blackswanarts.org.uk for further information.
Accessibility and support
Please contact us on exhibitions@blackswanarts.org.uk if you are experiencing any difficulties with the entry form.
Technical support
If you are experiencing a technical issue, please contact exhibitions@blackswanarts.org.uk. If you can provide all or some of the following it will help us to diagnose your issue quickly:
- the URL/webpage link for the page you were on when you experienced the problem
- information about the problem. What did you click on? What happened?
- the exact text if you are getting an error message
- the email address you are using for your entry
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