Applying for exhibitions and competitions

contains embarrassing old content

I have a folder on my computer called “submissions”. In it is everything I have applied for since 2014. Do you want to see inside?

2014: Whitechapel Open entry fee £25 Unsuccessful. This was a massive Lino print I made when I got my first studio. My kids were tiny, I had one day a week making artwork and I threw myself into applying for exhibitions with gusto. I didn’t know what I was doing, and being rejected felt bad.

2015: Bankside Gallery National Original Print Exhibition entry fee approx £30: Unsuccessful. I applied for this exhibition because it was a printmaking show and the gallery is really near where I live. I felt like that should somehow make me more likely to get accepted? I can’t remember if this was the actual image I submitted, I don’t have a record. But when I was rejected I decided not to enter any more paid open exhibitions, it just felt like double the humiliation.

2018: Bologna Illustrators Exhibition: Unsuccessful. I can’t actually remember if I did pay, was there always an entry fee? Anyway, I was now trying to be an illustrator so this one felt important to enter. Again, I had no idea what I was doing. The image below was from a strange story I was trying to write with my partner about plastics.

2018: Picture Hooks Unsuccessful. Picture Hooks is a BRILLIANT organisation. They don’t charge illustrators to enter, they have a mentoring programme and offer really generous prize money. When I got rejected from this one I sought advice from Ness Wood. In fact I think my first tutorial with her was just after I found out this submission was unsuccessful. She said “Well I can see why you keep getting rejected”. This is when she banned me from using a black pen and got me to start drawing every day.

Picture Hooks 2020 Unsuccessful. The image below was made two years after the last one, I like the atmosphere but it’s not really working very hard, and I think I relied heavily on Google Maps for the composition.

Bologna 2020: Unsuccessful. Not surprising. But I’m beginning to like the characters.

April 2021: Picture Hooks: SUCCESS!!! When I hit the submit button on this image I felt really positive. I’d been in Greenwich Park with some friends and the cherry trees were in blossom and hundreds of people would come up to this particularly spectacular tree and have their photo taken underneath it. The blossom was falling and children were catching it like snow. The theme for the competition was Hello Spring and this image came easily. I won a very nice prize and more importantly the courage to keep on going. I think you need at least one success in ten in order to find the stamina to keep on trying.

February 2022: Picture Hooks: unsuccessful

March 2022: Picture Hooks: unsuccessful

2023: Hay Festival Illustrator in Residence: Unsuccessful

2023: Bologna: long listed. Although I didn’t make the short list I felt like it was a massive vote of confidence. In a strange way I felt happy that I still had the big one to try for again.

2024: Bologna: Shortlisted! I just found out today that these pieces will be in the Bologna Illustrator’s exhibition. I made them specially for the submission and I thought hard about them, and as I wasn’t busy with book work at the time I really tried to make them as good as they could be. I can now see, looking back at all of these entries (and these are by no means all of the rejections) that the ones that have been successful are the ones I’ve crafted with the specific exhibition or prize in mind. I’m sharing this success today because I want to show how often I’ve been unsuccessful, and that there is luck involved, and a bit of skill, and an AWFUL lot of persistence.

I’d love to know your experiences!