2025 Advent Art Competition

In the Christian calendar, Advent is a four-week season preceding Christmas, drawing Christians to consider the mysterious coming of Jesus into this world, and the mysterious promise of His return. Early Christians understood Jesus to be the one who had been promised, for whom all of God’s people and indeed all of creation had been waiting. Christians today still wait, in hope, for the return of Jesus to restore the world. Advent, then, is a season of deliberate, attentive waiting, and St. John’s Church invites South Carolina artists to explore this theme through visual art.

The award-winning artworks will be displayed on campus, and featured in church materials and media, through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany (November 30 – January 6). Awarded artists will be invited to participate in an opening reception honoring their work on the evening of December 4.

A 30% commission fee will be collected by St. John's from any artwork sold to support the nonprofit Help4Kids, which provides meals for food insecure children in Florence County. Artwork insurance is the responsibility of the artist.

November 4–14, 2025 (excluding Sunday) between the hours of 8am and 4pm, by appointment.

Mail to:
St. John’s Church
252 S. Dargan Street,
Florence SC, 29506

Shipping costs are the responsibility of the artist.
Please include a return shipping label.

January 7–21, 2025 (excluding Sunday) between the hours of 8am and 4pm. by appointment.

Eva Crawford, of Charlotte, NC, has been a freelance artist for over thirty years, employing a variety of mediums and techniques to capture the personalities of her subjects and to tell stories through her work. Her portraits, murals and collages have been featured in spaces and galleries across the globe, gathering awards and critical acclaim from a variety of sources. South Carolina artists may recognize her from ArtFields (Lake City), where several of her pieces have been displayed and awarded over the years. She is also a certified Kintsugi experience facilitator, guiding participants in the ancient Japanese art form of mending broken ceramics with gold leaf- giving 'ruined' vessels a beauty and value greater than the unbroken original. Her studios and gallery spaces are at Dilworth Artisan in Southend and VAPA Center in Uptown Charlotte.

Learn more at evacrawfordart.com

Submission fee $20 for first entry and $10 for an additional submission with a maximum of 2 submissions.

A 30% commission fee will be collected from any artwork sold during the Advent Artist program. Commission fees will go to support Help 4 Kids. Help 4 Kids mission is to fill the ‘weekend hunger gap’ for children in Florence County by sending food home with ‘food insecure’ students every Friday.

Artwork is not required to be for sale.

While every care will be taken for the artwork, St. John’s assumes no responsibility for damage or loss. Insurance of artwork is solely the responsibility of the artist.

By submitting their artwork for the competition, artists grant St. John’s non-exclusive rights to use their submissions (and images of those submissions) in church-related events and communications, including but not limited to services, events, public displays, publications, sites, and programs, without further permission or payment involved, indefinitely, always with appropriate credit to the artist(s). Artists likewise grant St. John’s the non-exclusive right to allow images of their artwork to be used by its not-for-profit ministry "partners" such as the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.

Additional Notification Information

Notifications will be emailed and posted in your ShowSubmit account by the end of the day on October 15, 2025.

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 (October 1, 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 SJCF or this Prospectus, please contact Drew ([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.