Congressional Art Competition

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The Congressional Art Competition is an annual bipartisan tradition where high school students from across the nation compete to display their artwork in the United States Capitol. The 2025 competition is now open! Representative Kelly encourages all eligible students to participate and to showcase their talents.

WATCH Rep. Kelly's message encouraging students to participate in this year's competition!

For the 2025 Congressional Art Competition, please see the rules and guidelines that participating artists were required to adhere to below:

• The competition is open to high school students. Students should enter the competition in the district they reside, not where they attend school.
• Artwork must be the creation a single student. Students may not collaborate on an entry. 
• Artwork must be two-dimensional. Each framed artwork can be no larger than 26 inches high, 26 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. 
• If your artwork is selected as the winning piece, it must arrive in Washington, DC, framed. Even when framed, it must still measure no larger than the above maximum dimensions. No framed piece should weigh more than 15 pounds. 
• Accepted mediums for the two-dimensional artwork are as follows:
  • Paintings: oil, acrylics, watercolor, etc.
  • Drawings: colored pencil, pencil, ink, marker, pastels, charcoal (Charcoal and pastel must 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 
• Each entry must be original in concept, design, and execution and may not violate 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.
• Artwork that is potentially inappropriate for display in the Capitol will not be considered. This determination will be made by our panel of judges.

The deadline to submit artwork is April 18, 2025. Students and parents may drop off their artwork at any of Rep. Kelly's district offices in Erie, Sharon, and Butler or at Hope Center for Arts and Technology (HopeCAT), 115 Anson Way, Sharon, PA 16146.