I also think it’s very healthy for people to go through the exercise of thinking and writing about their work. It adds a lot of clarity to their practice and often opens up more doors creatively.

The problem I see with a lot of international competitions, from an entrants point of view, is to pick the genuine (as an opportunity for ‘outsiders’ to get that elusive ‘break’) from the money making.

Some entry fees for other competitions are significantly higher than HHS and they are extremely financially taxing for entrants. When you take into account the entry fees, the transportation costs and the excessive commissions then it can be a very expensive exercise indeed.

Visual artists, as with others, are an easy target due to the fine financial line they often tread and the level of desparation they may or may not have reached. With that in mind, it’s important to know what’s real or otherwise.

In Australia, for example, an average visual artists income is around AUD$7500 per annum (very roughly US$5600) and that’s even pulled higher by a few exceptional success stories.

Visual arts, including photography, is also getting caned by lifestyle television programs. ‘Look, you too can make a wonderful piece of art for your lounge. Just get some paint from Home Depot … and all for less than $40!’ … or ‘Just take you digital photo to company x and get a canvas print done.’

Anyway… ‘nough of a rant!

I didn’t actually realize that there was such a NY-centric focus to this season’s winners until after the winners were announced. Panelists do see bios + statements as part of the process, but proximity isn’t a factor. In this case, I didn’t look at the locations while we were winnowing the list down the final ten.

While the timeline *is* tight between announcement and exhibition, we’ve always managed to pull it all together in time for the opening reception. (I won’t lie - there have been times when we’re hanging work at 4pm when the opening is starting at 6, but it’s all turned out just fine.)

Christine, I’m glad you found the actual process of entering to be interesting - I do think that there’s a lot of value in it. In my experience, artists often struggle with their bios and statements - it’s my hope that having the structure of the competition is motivating and that the information that they organize and put together is useful beyond the entry alone.

Also, I know that choosing just three photos is agonizing for entrants, but that’s by design - it’s a good exercise, especially because editing one’s own work is very often the biggest challenge that emerging artists face.

Thanks for your comments, and for participating in the competition. I love hearing feedback!

I also found it interesting to participate. All kinds of things go through your head when putting your artist statement together, and I wonder about the hundreds of reasons I could’ve been eliminated. I’ll never know.

I too found the strong connection to New York among the winners interesting. I love New York. Does that count?

Anyway, I’m happy Jen’s gallery and this contest exist. I plan to continue doing what I like doing, and developing that. Cheers to all.

I would be interested in some demographics (ie. how many total, how many international?) as 9 from 10 are from New York and 10 from 10 are from the US.

Are the biographies ’secret’ from the panel or are they taken into account due to the proximity (2-3 weeks) of selection to exhibition?

Not (really!) jaded … just issues that relate to future submissions.