Beauty Sleeping by Mary Felton. Charcoal drawing, 29" x 35". This piece won First Place in the drawing category at the North River Arts Society's Festival of the Arts in Marshfield, Mass., and the "Popular Prize" at The Serenity Place Gallery in Big Bear Lake, Calif. It also won a "Best in Works on Paper" award in Manhattan Arts International's 24th Anniversary juried competition.

Juried exhibitions also offer artists a level playing field. M. Stephen Doherty, Editor-in-Chief of American Artist magazine, states, “Ultimately, competitions are based on quality alone. Artists who live in South Africa are offered an equal opportunity to receive recognition with artists from major cities in the U.S.” However, he is quick to add, “Each year, the competitors are tougher, and the number of entries increase. Often, the ultimate decisions by the judges are somewhat arbitrary, and several hundred artists may be thrown out simply because there is not enough space.” Unfortunately, in the most popular juried exhibitions, each artist has about a one to two percent chance of being selected.

Focus on the Details of the Show

As a juror of numerous exhibitions for Manhattan Arts International and other organizations since 1980, I have learned that if you want to increase your odds of winning, it is essential to pay attention to the details:

1. Carefully read and follow every instruction outlined in the prospectus. Write legibly and complete the form, as requested, in its entirety. Failure to do this may result in immediate disqualification.

2. Submit your best work. Your work may have less than one minute to make an impact. One gallery reported a major art critic took only two hours to view a few hundred entries. In a New York City competition, the judge took less than an eight-hour day to view 1,000 entries.

3. Submit work that best matches the criteria and the theme requested.

4. Research the juror(s) and their affiliation and track record. If the juror has a history of curating installation art shows, and you create traditional still life, you would probably have a better chance elsewhere.

5. For annual competitions, you may want to acquire the previous year’s catalogue, if available, or check the organizer’s Web site for last year’s winners.

6. Make sure your slides, photographs and digital entries are the best quality possible. As judges, we cannot guess that your work looks better than your images, so attaching a note that blames poor photography will not help you. What you send is what is judged. Don’t submit images that are out of focus or have distracting objects in the background. Display the image in the correct orientation. View slides in a projector before submitting them.

7. Adopt technology. Janice Sands is Executive Director of Pen & Brush, (www.penandbrush.org), a 114-year old non-profit organization for women in the visual, literary and performing arts in New York, New York. In her 10 years with the organization, Janice has administered more than 100 exhibitions. She advises, “Either pay for professional photography or learn how to take good photographs with a digital camera so images may be transferred to a CD or e-mailed. Learn how to burn CD’s and how to e-mail images in the proper format and file size.” If a jpeg is required, send the proper resolution and pixel size. Make sure the CD is viewable on both PC and Mac computers.

8. If you enter more than one work, you should present a cohesive level of quality, style and vision.

9. Label your entries correctly, according to the specifica- tions outlined on the prospectus.

10. If you use a different artist name than your legal name, specify that on your entry form and all materials.

11. Include all materials that are requested, such as your resume and artist statement.

12. Protect your entry. Use a plastic sleeve for slides and a case for your CD. Use protective padding with your envelope.

13. If you want your entries to be returned, supply a return addressed envelope of the proper size and sufficient postage.

14. Provide easy access to contact you. Janice strongly encourages artists, “Get an e-mail address — it’s free. Don’t be the only artist who has to be notified by regular mail or who has to be called.”

15. When being judged on the artwork itself, don’t ignore the entire presentation, such as proper matting, framing and packaging. Mary Felton, an artist from Massachusetts, has received numerous awards in juried competitions for her charcoal drawings, including the Gold Medal of Honor from the Academic Artists Association. She has learned to pay attention to details. “You don’t have to spend a lot of money for your art work to stand out. Spend time on the total presentation. Keep the frame simple, so that it enhances your work without detracting from it, and well made, so it will survive transportation.”

16. Don’t be late. Janice emphasizes, “Deadlines are deadlines. If the prospectus/guidelines indicate entries must be received by a certain date, that means received, not postmarked.” She adds, “Deliver work on time. Try not to ask for exceptions to the delivery time.”

17. Avoid disqualification. Janice points out, “Work that does not meet basic requirements will not be hung even if juried into an exhibit. Wall hung work must be ready for the hanging system of the gallery and frames must be secure. If unframed, be sure edges are finished. Many galleries will not exhibit work even if it is juried in from images if it arrives in unsatisfactory condition.”

Be Discriminating

Between by Barbara Rachko. Soft pastel on sandpape, 20" x 26". Between is on exhibit in a group exhibition, "Timeless," at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, through December 21, 2008, juried by Ann Aptaker, the Morris Museum's curator.

Renée Phillips, known as The Artrepreneur Coach, counsels artists worldwide in private consultations and group workshops. She is the author of The Complete Guide to New York Art Galleries and Presentation Power Tools For Fine Artists, as well as Success Now! For Artists: A Motivational Guide For the Artrepreneur. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA).She is the Director of Manhattan Arts International (www.manhattanarts.com ). Her advice to artists can be found at www.renee-phillips.com. You may e-mail questions to her at renee@renee-phillips.com .