The competition awards $1000.00 to one artist in each of the following categories: painting, sculpture, mixed media, drawing, printmaking and photography. One work is chosen from the category winners as the Best in Show artist. This artist also wins the opportunity to have a solo exhibition in the two years following the competition. The Best in Show artist agrees to donate a piece of their work from the show to the museum’s permanent collection.  

Previous winners include: Sedrick Huckaby (TX), Jeremy Biggers (TX), Asia Youngs-Bailey (TX), Charley Palmer (AL), Leamon Green (TX), Florence Staats (NJ), and Lee Ransaw (AR).

In 1976, the African American Museum initiated its first annual competition for southwest Black artists. The purpose of the Competition and Exhibition stemmed from the Museum’s need to build a distinguished art collection and to provide Black artists a venue to display their work. After several years of annuals, the competition became a biennial. In 1999, the African American Museum’s Board of Trustees named the Biennial Southwest Black Art Competition and Exhibition the Carroll Harris Simms National Black Art Competition and Exhibition for Professor Simms’ outstanding contribution to art and art education. 

Application Requirements

Submission Guidelines:

• Artist’s name, title of work, completion date, medium, size, and a different entry number for each work submitted (1-4).
• Images of each entry Jpeg format only.
• For sculpture entries, submit 3-4 images that reflect different perspectives on the object.
• Images embedded into PDF’s will not be accepted.
• All images should be 300 dpi
• An artist’s statement and current biographical information
• Entries must be received By November 14, 2022. 
• Accepted work must be received by December 1, 2022. Upon receipt of the artwork, withdrawal will not be allowed from the exhibition.

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all artist of African descent over the age of eighteen (18).