South Dakota Governor’s Student Art Competition
Coordinated by the South Dakota Arts Council

Submissions for the 2026 competition are open from Wednesday, Sept. 17 – Monday, Nov. 5, 2025!
[EVENT POSTER]

Program Details
Students whose work is selected for the 2026 exhibition will be notified by Nov. 17, 2025. Official announcement of the competition results will be made in early January 2026.

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the South Dakota Governor’s Student Art Competition! We’re excited to host this annual competition for student artists across our state! Please be sure to review all guidelines and eligibility requirements before submitting student artwork. 

If you have any questions regarding the competition, please email patrick.baker@state.sd.us or call the South Dakota Arts Council offices at 605.773.5507.

Submission Deadline
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025

Submission Requirements
Each submission will require two steps (full instructions below):

  • completion of an [online entry/release form], including parent/guardian authorization, and
  • emailing a high-resolution (at least 300 pixels per inch) image of the artwork for entry.

Each submission will need to be sent separately. One entry per student. There are no limitations on the number of entries per school/organization.

Eligibility
All K-12 students in South Dakota are encouraged to participate in the Governor’s Student Art Competition. We ask that an art teacher, classroom teacher, home-school teacher, or guardian submit the artwork on behalf of students and respond to any additional requests for information we may have about the submission.

Competition Details
The competition is juried by a panel of professional South Dakota artists, and the top-ranked student artworks in each division will be selected for exhibition in the South Dakota State Capitol in 2026. We ask students to consider selling their artwork to the state at the end of the exhibition. However, if a student does not want to submit their artwork for purchase, it will be returned to them after the exhibition ends in September 2026.

Competition divisions are determined by grade:

  • Kindergarten-2nd grades
  • 3rd-5th grades
  • 6th-8th grades
  • 9th-12th grades

Submission Instructions
Students will need to prepare the following information to submit their artwork:

  • To complete the [online entry/release form], you’ll need to know your Legislative district. If you don’t know, you can look it up here.
  • You’ll need to measure your artwork and fill in the dimensions in the online form. Artwork must be NO LARGER THAN 36x48 inches.
  • We’ll also need to know the artwork medium (this is what you used to create your art) and the purchase price if you would like to offer your work for sale to the State of South Dakota. If your work is Not For Sale (NFS), please indicate this in the form.
  • Write an Artist Statement. Your Artist Statement should be about 3-5 sentences long and help us understand why you make the art you do. If you need help developing your Artist Statement, please review our guide online.
  • Write a description of your artwork. Your description should include an explanation of the imagery and the title of the piece if it has one. If the orientation of the artwork is not immediately clear, please make sure to include information about that so we don’t accidentally hang it upside down! Include more details if you’d like.
  • Take a GREAT photo of your artwork! This contest is judged based on the photos of the artwork submitted, so please make sure you have the best photograph possible before you send it to us. The best thing to do is scan the artwork if possible. But if working with a camera, make sure there is nothing in the background and that the piece is centered in the photo frame rather than at an angle. Placing the artwork on a plain black or white background is the best option. And, please be sure your image is uploaded in high resolution! We need images to be at least 300 pixels per inch.
  • If your work is among the top three in your division, it will be part of the Governor’s Student Art Exhibition. That is why the [online entry/release form] must be completed by your grownups if you are younger than 18. Students who are 18 or older can sign/complete the form by themselves.

Competition Rules
Submissions must be received by midnight on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.

Artwork must be able to be matted and framed in a manner that will not protrude more than 4 inches from a wall; 3-dimensional artwork is accepted if it can be framed in this manner. Each artwork can be no larger than 36 inches by 48 inches, and 4 inches deep.

Accepted mediums for the two-dimensional artwork are as follows:

  • Paintings: oil, acrylics, watercolor, etc.
  • Drawings: colored pencil, pencil, ink, marker, pastels, charcoal (It is recommended that
  • charcoal and pastel drawings 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. For more information on copyright laws, we recommend you visit the Scholastic website: https://www.artandwriting.org/awards/how-to-enter/copyright-plagiarism/. Work entered must be in the original medium (that is, not a scanned reproduction of a painting or drawing).

Winning artwork must be shipped to Pierre by Nov. 25, 2025. Artwork will hang in the South Dakota State Capitol for the duration of the exhibition. Students should only submit artwork they will not need for other purposes.

Entries that don’t follow all of the above rules may not be accepted.