International Association of Pastel Societies
International Association of Pastel Societies

46th Open Division

April 18 – July 18, 2025 | Online
Deadline is March 14th. 5 weeks left to enter. Open to members of any IAPS member society.
La Purisima Mission Gardens by Deborah Breedon
La Purisima Mission Gardens by Deborah Breedon
Open Calls

or to submit.

Deadline for entry: March 14, 2025
THIS IS THE Open division EXHIBITION

The 46th Open Division of the Fall Exhibition will be displayed on the IAPS Website, iapspastel.org. This is an online exhibition only and no work will be shipped.

Awards

  • Best in Show - $2,000
  • First Place in Honor of Urania Christy Tarbet - $1000
  • Second Place in Honor of Maggie Price - $600
  • Third Place - $400
  • four Awards of Merit - $200 each

Eligibility

Open to artists who have an up-to-date membership with an IAPS member society EXCEPT ARTISTS WHO HAVE ACHIEVED IAPS MASTER CIRCLE STATUS. THESE ARTISTS SHOULD ENTER THE 14th Master Circle DIVISION. A current list of IAPS member societies can be viewed at iapspastel.org.

Eligible Work

Please read carefully to make sure your work meets the following entry requirements.
  • Works must be in dry pastel. No oil pastels. Mixed media must be predominantly dry pastel.
  • The top layer of the painting should be at least 80% dry application of pastel.
  • Work must be original, not copied from other artists or published materials and from your own reference. Any reference provided by an instructor is not eligible, including an instructor- provided photo, still life setup or model setup.
  • Work that was done in a classroom or workshop scenario is ineligible.
  • All artwork must be originally drawn and not created on top of any type of photographic image.
  • Paintings of nudes will be considered for acceptance.
  • Work may not have been accepted in any previous IAPS Exhibitions. This does not include IAPS Member Society shows (see details below).
  • Work may be for sale. NFS is acceptable.
Failure to meet any of the requirements for eligibility may result in the artwork not being juried.

Artwork submitted and accepted into this show that has been shown in a previous IAPS exhibition is not eligible. IAPS reserves the right to exclude from exhibitions any artwork deemed offensive, or any artwork that violates the laws of the United States, or of state or local governments.

IAPS Master Circle and IAPS Eminent Pastelist

Acceptance into this exhibition earns 1 point; an award earns an additional point. For information about the IAPS Master Circle, Eminent Pastelist, or the IAPS Code of Ethics, please see the IAPS Honors page on the IAPS web site, iapspastel.org.

Entry Fee

The entry fee is $35.00 for the first image and $10.00 for each additional image. Up to 5 images may be submitted by an individual artist. Entry fees are not refundable and must be paid by the entry deadline.

Notification

Up to 5 entries may be submitted, no more than one per artist will be accepted for the exhibition. Paintings will be selected for the exhibition by the jury pool. All Artists will receive notification by email when the jurying and judging are complete. Posting on the IAPS Website will occur shortly after. Please add [email protected] to your safe senders list to ensure email delivery.

Notice of change to payment of awards
All award recipients will be paid by PayPal transfer. We can no longer use bank transfer methods. If you are unable to accept payment by these methods, you should consider the award a donation to IAPS.

Entry procedures for artists outside the United States

Use the same entry procedures listed above. All payments are in USD.

Sales

Sales are the responsibility of the artist. A 30% donation to IAPS will be accepted on all sales through the Website.

Jurors

IAPS has built a group of knowledgeable and accomplished artists to serve as a Jury Pool for our Webshows. We are pleased to announce the current esteemed members of this pool: Ellen Eagle, Ray Hassard, Isabelle V. Lim, Richard McKinley, Colette Oyda Smith, Rae Smith, and Jimmy Wright. The jurying process for the Webshows will be completed by members of the Jury Pool, and for the purpose of efficiency, the specific members working on each Webshow will remain anonymous.

Questions?

For questions about IAPS or this prospectus, please send email to Susan Weber at [email protected].

For technical support, please see the Support sections below.

Judge of Awards

Lyn Diefenbach, IAPS-EP, PSA
Lyn has been a professional artist for more than 30 years, and the pursuit of masterly quality and is a high priority for Lyn. Her works, imbued with nearly 40 years of practice, are a celebration of life and her faith. Lyn’s internationally award-winning works in pastel and oil span multiple genres, including portraits, florals, seascapes, still life and plein air. Lyn’s innate ability to communicate her ideas has entrenched her world-wide as a respected and sought-after tutor, demonstrator and judge. Lyn was accepted into the International Guild of Realism in 2008 and holds Master Pastellist status with the Pastel Society of Australia.

Additional Notification Information

Notifications will be emailed and posted in your ShowSubmit account by the end of the day on April 18, 2025.

You may view the notification in your ShowSubmit account by logging in and tapping the Notifications at the top right of the screen, or in your Entry History.

If you do not receive your email, login and view the notification in your account. We cannot respond to inquiries regarding the status of notifications.

Note: Entries made prior to 2023 may not display the View Notification link.

Image and Filename Specifications

  • File Format: Submit original, high-quality JPEG image files. Other formats (e.g., PNG, TIFF) are not accepted.
  • Crop Your Image: Ensure only the artwork itself is visible in the image. Do not show any visible matting, frames, or background distractions.
  • Orientation: Make sure your image is oriented correctly (right side up) so that the artwork appears in its intended viewing direction.
  • Image Size: You do not need to resize your image files before uploading. The system will automatically resize them. Smaller images cannot be enlarged to meet the requirements, so ensure your images are high resolution before uploading.
  • File Names: You do not need to rename your files before uploading them. The system will handle any file naming requirements.
  • File Size: There is a 30mb maximum file size limit. Larger image files will take longer to upload and process.

Additional Entry Information

  • You will pay for your entry by credit or debit card using our secure checkout system.
  • After your entry is submitted and paid for, you may log back in to review your entry, edit artist and image information, and add or substitute images up until the entry deadline (March 14, 2025.)
  • Entry fees are not refundable and must be submitted and paid by the entry deadline.
  • Entries cannot be accepted or changed after the deadline. Incomplete entries will be disqualified.

Support

Need Assistance? For questions about the entry process or using this website, please check our Help Center or Entry Guide first for detailed guides and troubleshooting tips. Most answers can be found there quickly.

If you still need help, feel free to email ShowSubmit Support at [email protected], and we’ll respond between 9am and 6pm Eastern Time, Monday to Friday.