2026 National Competition for Direct Carving

The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) welcomes American women Sculptors, whose medium is direct carving, to apply for this prestigious award.

This is an award competition only; there is no exhibition affiliated with this call for entries.

Established in 1889, the National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) promotes the work of American women artists, through a variety of exhibitions, awards and educational programs. Professional women artists are also welcome to apply for membership to NAWA. For details, please visit: www.thenawa.org, or send email to [email protected].

You will apply for this prestigious award through Showsubmit.com between Wednesday, October 15, 2025 and Friday, December 5, 2025

Please include the following required application materials with your application:

By entering the Margo Harris Hammerschlag Direct Carving Competition, you are certifying that you, personally, directly carved your sculpture entry, and you are 18+ years of age, a US citizen and/or a permanent resident of the US.

Your application also ensures that you allow permission for your art imagery, identifying information (Title, size, etc.) and your name may be used in future promotions of the Hammerschlag Award, its winner(s), social media and website postings about this competition.

Jurors for the 2025-2026 Margo Harris Hammerschlag Biennial National Direct Carving Competition

B. Amore is an artist, educator and writer who has spent her life between Italy and America. She studied at Boston University, University of Rome, Accademia di Belle di Carrara, and is the recipient of Massachusetts Cultural grants, a Fulbright Grant, Mellon Fellowship as well as a Citation of Merit Award presented by the Vermont Arts Council. She is the founder of the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center in Vermont, an international program for sculptors which celebrated thirty-eight years in 2025. bamore.com

Claire Lieberman is a sculptor whose black marble sculptures explore uneasy realms in which play becomes entangled with power and conflict. Her work has been exhibited internationally at Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland; Forum Schlossplatz, Aarau, Switzerland; ACC Galerie Weimar, Germany; and Seoul Art Center, Korea. Lieberman’s 2024 shows include 601Artspace and Project:ARTspace, in NYC. Her numerous solo shows include Massey Klein Gallery, NYC; Martin Art Gallery at Muhlenberg College; and Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta. clairelieberman.com

Donna Dodson is an American sculptor who has exhibited her artwork around the world. Dodson has completed successful residencies in Verbier Switzerland, Cusco Peru, Keelung Taiwan and Ringkoebing Denmark. Donna is currently a Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center and a Visual Art Fellow at the St Botolph Club in Boston. Dodson was the first woman to be honored with a solo show “Match of the Matriarchs” at the World Chess Hall of Fame featuring the world’s first and only life-sized all-female chess set. Donna was a 2022 Fulbright US Scholar at Q21/MuseumsQuartier in Vienna Austria working as an artist in residence with her host institution Tricky Women/Tricky Realities, the world’s only animation festival for women.

Additional Notification Information

Notifications will be emailed and posted in your ShowSubmit account by the end of the day on February 27, 2026.

You may view the notification in your ShowSubmit account by logging in and clicking 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 (December 5, 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

For questions about NAWA or this Prospectus, please contact Jill Baratta ([email protected]).

For technical support or entry questions, first check our Help Center or Entry Guide. If you still need help, email ShowSubmit Support ([email protected]). We’ll respond between 9am and 6pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.