Art Competition

Who can participate

To be eligible, students must live in or attend a school in Maryland's Fourth Congressional District (MD-04). Please use the Congressional Representative finder on house.gov to verify your member of Congress.

Deadline

The deadline to enter the 2026 Congressional Art Competition for Maryland's Fourth District (MD-04) is no later than 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

How to submit

Students wishing to participate in this year’s contest are limited to one entry, which must be submitted with a completed Student Release Form signed by the student, a teacher, and a parent/guardian.

To submit your artwork, you will upload a high-resolution photograph of your original artwork to this form: bit.ly/md04art

Artwork Guidelines and Rules

To enter your artwork in the Congressional Art Competition, please refer to the following rules as released for the 2026 competition. All entries must be original in concept, design, and execution. The piece may be up to 26 inches by 26 inches (including the frame) and may be up to 4 inches in depth. Even when framed, it must still measure no larger than the above maximum dimensions. No framed piece should weigh more than 15 pounds.

The artwork may be:

Paintings - including oil, acrylics, and watercolor
Drawings - including pastels, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, and markers
Collage
Prints - including lithographs, silkscreen, and block prints
Mixed Media
Computer Generated Art
Photography

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.

Judging and selection

After the deadline, a committee of local community members will review the submitted artwork. Participants will be notified no later than May 1st.

Updates will be communicated via email. Students are encouraged to regularly check the email addresses they provided for status updates.

Winner instructions

If selected as the winner, you must be prepared to provide the original framed artwork to our Landover office for display in the U.S. Capitol by Thursday, April 30th by 5 pm, or you risk forfeiting to the runner-up. Each framed artwork can be no larger than 26 inches high, 26 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. Even when framed, it must still measure no larger than the above maximum dimensions. No framed piece should weigh more than 15 pounds.

The winner will be invited to the U.S. Capitol for a winner's reception, with additional details provided directly to the recipient. Winners also receive an ARTS Act Fee Waiver. For more information visit https://copyright.gov/arts-act/.

If you would like more information on the annual Congressional District Art Competition, contact our District Office at iveyrsvp@mail.house.gov or 240-906-6262.