Open calls and competitions for artists

Updated on: 10.3.26

(Scroll down for the list of open calls)

Being part of an exhibition where your work has been selected by judges, hung nicely, and lit on a crisp gallery wall can feel very special. It’s a chance to get your work noticed, meet other artists, take some nice photos to share on social media, maybe even sell your work, and generally feel good about your painting practice for a while.

Entering open calls and competitions can be time consuming and quite expensive (galleries and competitions cost a lot to run!), so choose wisely to make sure you only enter those that are suitable for your work. I always recommend that artists visit exhibitions the year before to get a good idea of what the judges are looking for, as there’s always a distinct flavour to each open call. If you can’t get to see an exhibition, you can probably still find the selected works online, which isn’t too bad, as after all, your work is most likely to be judged on a screen by the selection panel anyway.

I’d recommend that you research who the judges are too. What type of work do they align themselves with? Which pieces of your work do you think they might select and why?

Most open calls request that you upload a photograph of your work with your application, so you will need to make sure that you take a really good photograph, or if the work is small enough, you could use a scanner. Make sure your work is in focus, in good light, with no reflections, cropped to the edges, and with colours and tones that match your painting. If you can’t justify spending out on an expensive camera or paying a photographer, do some research to find out how to take the best possible images with your phone. I find the single most important thing is ‘light’. Taking a photograpgh of your work outdoors on a bright day, with cloud cover to diffuse the sunlight, will help a lot.

I wish you lots of luck and hope to see your work hanging in a gallery soon. If however, you did your research, and you sent in an amazing photograph of your work, and it still didn’t get selected, try not to get too down about it. There will have been a lot of good entries like yours and there’s a lot of luck involved in catching the right judges eye at the right time too. I do believe however, the more open calls you enter, and the more open exhibitions you visit, the more knowledgeable you will become, and your chances will increase.

There are plenty of open calls to research below, many with deadlines coming up, so start clicking the links to find the ones that fit your work the best. Good luck!:

The New English Art Club
Deadline: 20/3/26

The Women in Art Fair
Deadline: 27/3/26

The Football Art Prize
Deadline: 7.4.26

Chelsea Art Society
Deadline: 29/4/26

Cass Art Prize
Deadline: 12/5/26

The Comtemporary British Painting Prize
Deadline: 8/6/26

Trinity Bouy Wharf Drawing Prize
Deadline: 9/6/26

If the open calls above don’t catch your eye, maybe search Art Rabbit, MoMa, Mall Galleries or ArtOpps to find more.

And those you’ve missed…… Keep an eye out for next year!

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 
Deadline: 23/01/26

Jackson’s Art Prize
Deadline: 11/2/26

Royal Society of Portrait Painters 
Deadline: 3/2/26