Each spring, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, committed to the importance of our cultural heritage, join together to recognize the creative spirit of American high school students in a nationwide art competition. The Congressional High School Art Competition is implemented by the members of each U.S. Congressional District and features paintings, drawings, collages, prints, mixed media, computer-generated art, and photographs. Each member brings a winning entry back to Washington, D.C. to be displayed in the corridor of the U.S. Capital. Other entries may hang in congressional offices in Washington, DC, the district office in Raleigh or district offices in Cumberland County or Chapel Hill/Durham. Launched in 1982, this nationwide event has produced thousands of local competitions, yielding more than 500,000 high school winners.
This competition is coordinated locally through 4th District U.S. Representative David Price’s office. High school visual art students in Alamance, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham, Orange and Wake Counties are eligible to apply.
This annual congressional art competition features a $1,500 per year scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design as the top prize. In addition to the scholarship, the winning entry will be hung, along with the winning entries from other congressional districts, in a corridor of the U.S. Capitol Building.
The Orange County Arts Commission, the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, the Durham Arts Council, the Alamance County Arts Council, and United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County work together to make this fourth district competition a success.
The 2016 application period has closed. Check back in March of 2017 for application instructions.