RULES OF ENTRY
Call for Entries for the 2025 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is now closed.
- The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is open to artists who are at least 18 years old (at time of entry) and are living and working in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands.
- All entries must abide by the full Rules of Entry. Find a PDF download of the full Rules of Entry at the top and bottom of this page.
- Entries in all forms of visual arts media are welcome, including painting, sculpture, drawings, prints, photographs, fiber arts, time-based art, and performance art.
- Artists may only submit one artwork for consideration. The work must have been created between January 1, 2022, and January 26, 2024. Submissions must be made online. A portal link will be provided through our Call for Entries.
- Up to two images of the one artwork can be submitted. One image should show the work in its entirety, and the additional optional image should be a detail view of the same work of art. For multipart works, one image should show a view of the entire work, and one image should be a detail view that includes one component of the work.
- For time-based art, artists should submit a compressed exhibition copy. File sizes will be specified in the Call for Entries. One video file with up to two optional images of the artwork can be submitted.
- Performance submissions should include a fully developed, finished written concept and visuals. If the piece has already been performed, photographic or video documentation of the event should be included as a compressed video file sized to the specifications in the Call for Entries, or two still images. If it has never been performed, a storyboard or drawings outlining the action should be submitted as an image file.
- Size restrictions:
- 2-D work: overall dimensions should not exceed 7 ft. (height) x 7 ft. (width) x 8 in. (depth) (including frame); overall weight should not exceed 150 lbs.
- All 2-D works must be framed. Works on paper (including photographs) need UV filtering acrylic (e.g., Plexiglas), and pastels and charcoals need UV filtering anti-static acrylic, non-reflective glazing preferred. Paintings can have strip frames.
- 3-D work: overall dimensions should not exceed 7 ft. (height) x 7 ft. (width) x 4 ft. (depth); overall weight should not exceed 150 lbs.
- Any physical element accompanying a performance work may not exceed the parameters provided for 2-D and 3-D works.
- Artists whose works are selected as finalists agree to loan their objects for the duration of the loan period, beginning with the on-site jury day through the exhibition at the Portrait Gallery and the national tour. See Calendar for dates. Loan period will be set forth in a loan agreement prior to work being picked up for the final jury round of the competition.
- Performance art must be adaptable to the infrastructure that the Portrait Gallery and subsequent tour venues can provide.
- While artists always maintain copyright of their work, as a condition of entry for the exhibition, artists shall grant to the Portrait Gallery the irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right to use and reproduce all exhibited works for the exhibition publication, research, public programs, publicity, any promotional print materials, and electronic distribution on websites and social media platforms maintained by the Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian, in connection with the Portrait Competition and resulting exhibition.
- Work entered into the competition may not be sold at any time during the competition, its subsequent exhibition, or the national tour, unless it is a different edition.
- Artists must have written approval to submit any work that is owned by a third party.
- Semifinalist works will be packed and shipped to Washington, D.C., for further judging of the original portraits.
- Work will only be retrieved from and returned to an address in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands. The Portrait Gallery will return work to the address from which it was picked up unless the artist notifies the Portrait Gallery in writing of a change of address. All packing and shipping arrangements and costs will be handled by the Portrait Gallery.
- Object(s) shall be insured by the Portrait Gallery under an all-risk, wall-to-wall policy, subject to standard exclusions. For more details, see Shipping Guidelines in the full Rules for Entry (see link to a PDF of the full Rules for Entry at the top and bottom of this page).
- The National Portrait Gallery reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any artist it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Portrait Competition, including its website. It also reserves the right to disqualify any artist who does not adhere to the full Rules of Entry.
- The Portrait Gallery is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunctions of the internet or any website, including uploading issues, injury or damage to artists’ or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating or downloading materials in this Portrait Competition.
- If, for any reason, the Portrait Competition is not capable of running as planned, the Portrait Gallery reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Portrait Competition.
- Smithsonian Institution employees, regents, trustees, officers, volunteers, interns, fellows, research associates, and members of any of the foregoing’s immediate family or household are ineligible to enter the competition.
- Collection of personally identifiable information from artists will be done in accordance with the Smithsonian Institution Privacy Policy as posted on https://www.si.edu/Privacy.
