Visual Art Competition Guidelines
We are pleased to invite your students (grades 6-12) to participate in the Metropolitan (DC) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated’s 2026 Visual Art Competition. This innovative competition was created by The Links, Incorporated in 1995.
Theme: unity through art
This theme invites students to explore how the arts have long served as a catalyst for unity and understanding. Across decades, art has strengthened communities and bridged divides—political, social, and economic—by offering a shared space for dialogue, empathy, and reflection.
Please contact Arts@metrodclinks.org with any questions.
Eligibility:
Who May Enter: Students in grades 6 - 12 in DC, Maryland, and Virginia are invited to participate. Competition category is based on your grade at the time of entry.
Deadline:
Must be submitted by February 16, 2026 (11:59 PM EST).
Awards:
The Metropolitan (DC) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated will award monetary gifts.
What to Submit:
Size - Students are not limited by the size of the material used. Paper, canvas or art board is recommended. We encourage participants to use standard materials that are accessible. Standard art material sizes include: 9”x12” and 11”x14”. When deciding on the size for your contest, consider that you will be photographing the final product for upload as well.
Artistic Expression - Eligible media are watercolor, charcoal, pencil, acrylics, pen, paint, fabric, collage, crayons, mosaic, scratch art or a computer-generated image (but not computer clip art). Computer- generated artwork should be 3000x2000 with a resolution of 300ppi. Artwork can be 2D or 3D collage. Sculpture works are not encouraged. All images should be a poster composition and express the theme aligned to the student’s respective grade category. Diversity is encouraged in the imagery. Students should include a title for their work that expresses their interpretation of the theme as seen through their work.
To understand more about posters, you may want to view some works from the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists): https://designarchives.aiga.org/ - /entries/Posters/_/grid/relevance/asc/0/78/90
How to Submit:
Students must submit a digital picture of their art using our online submission form (links below).
Theme:
Submitted art must align to the theme: Unity through Art.
Deadline:
February 16, 2026
Notification:
March 2026
Awards Ceremony:
March 14, 2026