Important Dates

• Deadline for entries: 11/15/2024
• Acceptance list posted at www.cpsa.org 1/15/2025
• Show opens online and awards announced 2/1/2025

Non-refundable Entry Fees

• CPSA members $20 (2025 membership year)
• Non-members $25 (sorry no refund should you choose the non-member fee by mistake)

Awards

• $2,000 cash award for Best of Show and EXPY Award
• Up to 15 smaller cash amounts and product awards

Specifications
Please review the Explore This! prospectus for details about specifications.

• Entries must be predominantly colored pencil
• Work must include some other technique, surface, or element NOT allowed for the CPSA International Exhibition such as:
  • Another medium such as ink, watercolor, pastel, acrylics, etc.
  • Collage or montage
  • Artist-prepared surface
  • Three-dimensional surface
• Work must be completed on or after January 1, 2022.
• Artwork must be solely the original concept, design, and execution of the submitting artist.
• Reference photos used in creating the artwork must be taken personally by the submitting artist.
• Reference photos taken by anyone other than the submitting artist must be incidental to and not the main focus of the artwork.
• Artwork created as a pastiche (parody or imitation of another artwork) is allowed provided the work is sufficiently altered to make the parody obvious and the original is not copyrighted.

Not allowed

• Work done with 100% colored pencil on a single 2D surface, regardless of size.
• Work which has appeared in any previous CPSA Explore This! exhibition.
• Collaborative work executed by more than one artist, including classroom projects and exercises.
• Work based on or copied from AI-generated images.
• Work produced by applying colored pencil exactly over a printed or digital image, though you may create a completely different drawing over a printed digital image or photograph.
• Work constructed from actual colored pencils.
• Alteration of the artwork after submission of the entry.

For More Information

Before entering, read the full Explore This! 21 prospectus at Prospectus-2025-ET21-final2025-2.pdf (cpsa.org)

Application Requirements

Failure to comply with specifications stated in the prospectus is cause for disqualification, meaning the entry is not considered by the juror and/or is removed from the exhibition. Penalties for non-compliance may also apply.

Eligibility Criteria

• Explore This! is open to living artists worldwide age 18 or older.
• Artwork must be predominantly colored pencil
• Artwork must include some technique, surface, or element NOT allowed for the CPSA International Exhibition such as:
  • Another medium such as ink, watercolor, pastel, acrylics, etc.
  • Collage or montage
  • Artist-prepared surface
  • 3D surface
• Artwork must have been completed on or after January 1, 2022.
• Artwork may not have been included in a previous CPSA Explore This! exhibition
• Artwork must be solely the original concept, design, and execution of the submitting artist