Higgins announces details for annual Congressional Art Competition

High school students invited to participate; winning piece displayed at US Capitol

Congressman Brian Higgins is inviting local high school students to participate in the annual Congressional Art Competition. All artwork submitted from students in Higgins' district will be featured in a public gallery and available for viewing online. The winning piece will be displayed in the tunnel to the U.S. Capitol.

"This is a great opportunity to feature the incredible creativity and talent of high school students here in Western New York," Higgins said. "We encourage local young artists to participate."

Interested students must submit their original artwork by 5 pm Tuesday, April 25. Students can submit a maximum of three original pieces of artwork for consideration in the competition. Art pieces can be delivered to Higgins' Buffalo office at 726 Exchange St, Suite 601.

Submitted artwork must be framed and can be no larger than 26 inches high, 26 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. Accepted mediums for the two-dimensional artwork include:

• Paintings: oil, acrylics, watercolor, etc.
• Drawings: colored pencil, pencil, ink, marker, pastels, charcoal
• 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

Additional guidelines and a student information and release form, which must be submitted with the artwork, are available on the congressman's website: https://higgins.house.gov/services/art-competition.

All submissions will be on display from May 1-13 in a public gallery located on the first floor of the Larkin at Exchange Building at 726 Exchange St., Buffalo. Beginning May 2, the artwork will be featured in a virtual gallery on Higgins' website, with additional viewing opportunities through the congressman's Facebook page and Twitter feed (where the public will be invited to vote for their favorite piece through May 11).

On Saturday, May 13, Higgins will host a ceremony and reception for teachers, students and their families, where the winners will be announced.

One piece from each congressional district will hang in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., for one year. The winning student is invited to attend a ribbon-cutting award ceremony in the Capitol. Southwest Airlines will provide round-trip airfare for two.

The competition, initiated by Congress in 1982, includes hundreds of thousands of high school students from across the nation. Students, parents and teachers with additional questions can contact Evelyn Williams in Higgins' office at 716-852-3501 or [email protected].