Congressional Art Competition
Each spring, a nation-wide high school arts competition is sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Congressional Art Competition is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the artistic talent in the nation, as well as in our Congressional District. Since its creation in 1982, hundreds of thousands of talented high school students have represented their communities and have served as artistic ambassadors.
The Congressional Art Competition is open to public, private, and home-schooled high school students who reside in the Twenty-Fourth Congressional District of Texas. The Grand Prize Winner from our district's competition will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol. The exhibit in Washington will also include the winning artwork from all participating districts from around the country. The winning artwork is also featured on House.gov's Congressional Art Competition page.
If you are unsure of whether you live in Texas’ Twenty-Fourth Congressional District, please visit www.house.gov and use the “Find Your Representative” feature in the upper right-hand corner to verify the district of your home address of record.
Eligibility: High School Students
Deadline: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 by 5:00 pm CST
Rules and Regulations
Artwork must be two-dimensional. We will need your artwork unframed for the judging portion of our competition. If your artwork is selected as our Grand Prize Winner, we will need it returned to us after the competition framed, measuring no larger than 26 inches high, 26 inches wide, and 4 inches deep (including the frame). No framed piece should weigh more than 15 pounds.
Each student is allowed to submit one piece of artwork.
Accepted mediums for the two-dimensional artwork are as follows:
- Paintings: oil, acrylics, watercolor, etc.
- Drawings: colored pencils, pencil, ink, marker, pastels, charcoal (It is recommended that charcoal and pastel drawings be fixed.)
- Collages: must be two dimensional
- Prints: lithographs, silkscreen, block prints
- Mixed Media: use of more than two mediums such as pencil, ink, watercolor, etc.
- Computer-generated art
- Photographs
All entries must be original in concept, design, and execution and may not violate any U.S. copyright laws. Any entry that has been copied from an existing photo or image (including a painting, graphic, or advertisement) that was created by someone other than the student is a violation of the competition rules and will not be accepted. Work entered must be in the original medium (that is, not a scanned reproduction of a painting or drawing). For more information on copyright laws, please see A Guide To Copyright and Plagiarism.
For competition rules, checklist, and release form, please see the following:
To enter, please complete the following steps:
- Complete the Student Release Form* (front and back)
- Keep original copy to attach to the back of your artwork.
- Upload a scanned copy of your completed release form (PDF) here.
- Upload a photo or digital copy of your artwork (JPEG or TIFF) here.
Please upload the digital copy of artwork as an image file and the Student Release Form as a PDF. Files submitted in other formats will require resubmission.
Submit your artwork by 5:00 pm CST on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 to be included in this year's competition.
If you would like more information or have questions regarding the Congressional Art Competition, please reach out to Rachel Garcia.
