Best in Show: Pets Art Competition
Begin the application process:
4th Annual Best in Show: Pets
Put your best paw forward in our 2025 pets-themed art competition. Whether furry or feathered, we want to see artwork of your favorite animal friends. Share your creative portrayals of cats, dogs, lizards, birds, horses — all pets (and all painting and drawing media) are welcome! The art competition is open to any artist, U.S. and international!
A portion of each entry fee will be donated to the Dumb Friends League.
Super Early Bird Deadline – Nov 19, 2024
Artists Network Members: $15 Non-Members: $25
Early Bird Deadline – Feb 4, 2025
Artists Network Members: $25 Non-Members: $35
Final Deadline – Mar 18, 2025
Artists Network Members: $30 Non-Members: $40
Entry fees are due with entries. Your record of the credit card or PayPal charge will be your receipt.
Click here for the official Rules + Regulations.
- To enter, visit our online entry portal to log in or register for a free account.
- You can save your progress as you go and return anytime to make edits to your entries.
- This art contest is open to all artists around the world age 18 years or older.
- If you are a member, you will be asked to provide the email address associated with your Artists Network membership. If you’d like to take advantage of membership pricing sign up today to save on entry fees!
- Upload your entry details and image(s). There is no limit to the number of entries you may submit. You are able to edit your entries until the final deadline.
PRIZES & AWARDS
Best in Show
$1500
One Grand Prize Winner (Best in Show) will receive a $1,500 cash prize, a one-year membership to ArtistsNetwork.com ($99 value) and a digital winner’s badge.
Top Dog, Top Cat, Top Other Pets*
$500
Three Category Winners (Dogs, Cats and Other Pets) will receive a $500 cash prize, a one-year membership to ArtistsNetwork.com ($99 value) and a digital winner’s badge.
*Other Pets is defined as any pet that is not a cat or dog.
15 Honorable Mentions
$50 Artists Network Gift Card
Fifteen Honorable Mentions (five per category) will receive a $50 eGift Card redeemable at ArtistsNetwork.com, plus a one-year membership to ArtistsNetwork.com ($99 value) and a digital winner’s badge.
OTHER HONORS
All Award Winners
Publication in Artists Magazine
All nineteen winners will be published in an online art presentation on ArtistsNetwork.com as well as a feature article in the Sept/Oct 2025 issue of Artists Magazine.
THE JURY
Renay Shaffer
Cats
Whether working in oil, watercolor, pastel or colored pencil, artist Renay Shaffer’s portrayals of nature and living creatures reflect a deep reverence for her subject matter. Growing up in a small seaside town along the west coast of Canada, she formed an early connection with the natural world. Her artwork has been featured in a number of publications, including The Best of Drawing, International Artist and American Art Collector, and is part of private collections throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. Shaffer currently works in her home studio in Birch Bay, Washington, supervised by her two senior cats.
Emma Colbert
Dogs
Emma Colbert, originally from Northern Ireland, is a painter, illustrator and instructor who specializes in animal and wildlife subjects. She’s an elected member of the Pastel Society of Ireland and an ambassador for Unison Colour pastels. Her work can be found in galleries across Northern Ireland.
Teresa Elliott
Other Pets
Teresa Elliott is an American realist painter living and working in her desert studio north of the Big Bend National Park in Alpine, Texas. Today, she is best known for portraits of bovines and figurative paintings set in the Southwest. After completing a Fine Art degree from the University of Kansas, Elliott moved to Dallas, where she worked as a self-employed graphic designer and illustrator—experience that prepared her for her true calling as a fine art painter, a career that took off in 2006. Her paintings have been part of many shows and exhibitions, including the Prix de West and the Coors Western Art Show.
PAST WINNERS
2024 Best in Show
Betty
By Patrick Saunders
2024 Top Cat
Harry Composed
By Deborah Maklowski
2024 Top Dog
Jake
By Lynn Wade
2024 Top Other Pet
Palm is the Cradle
By Tianzheng Dang
WINNER GALLERIES
2024 Online Winner Presentation
3rd Annual Best in Show: Pets
2023 Online Winner Presentation
2nd Annual Best in Show: Pets
2022 Online Winner Presentation
1st Annual Best in Show: Pets
FAQs
QImportant notice about our NEW online entry system:
As of March 2024, we have transitioned to a new online entry system for all Artists Network competitions. We will no longer be using Submittable to manage our contests.
If you’ve previously entered an Artists Network competition via Submittable, you will still have access to your account and entry records when you log in to the Submittable platform.
Please contact us at [email protected] with any questions.
QWhy is my entry still “In Progress”?
In order to officially enter your image into the jurying pool, you must hit “Submit Entry” during the entry process. This will place your image in the cart so that you may pay and complete your entry.
QWhy didn’t I receive a notification when I entered my artwork?
You must have your Award Force notifications enabled in Settings in order to receive updates about your entry. Please make sure that our emails (anything ending in @goldenpeakmedia.com) are not blocked, or you may not receive critical information, receipts, confirmations etc.
QWhat do I do if I make a mistake in my entry?
You may edit your entries up until the closing deadline of a contest. When logged into Award Force, click on “Enter” at the top of the screen. This will show your entries that are in progress or completed.
QWhat types of artwork are acceptable?
Best in Show: Pets is open to all artists working in two dimensions in all traditional art media (e.g., oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel, mixed media, gouache, egg tempera, pen and ink; drawing media such as graphite, charcoal, colored pencils, scratchboard, markers, metal point; and two-dimensional collage).
Photography, except for minor elements incorporated in a collage, will NOT be considered. Sculpture will NOT be considered. Digital art will NOT be considered. Entries are limited to two-dimensional artwork. Two-dimensional means that a mixed media cannot exceed one inch in depth.
QOriginal artwork and Artificial Intelligence (AI) guidelines:
All works must be original. “Original” means that the work must be from the hand of a single artist; pieces that originate from a workshop or a class under the direction of a teacher are not eligible. For works based on reference photographs, eligibility requires that the artist must have taken the photographs or have obtained written permission from the photographer to create the work and to enter it in the Contest. Compositions based on published material or other artists’ work are NOT considered original and are not eligible.
Artwork or reference imagery generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) will NOT be considered.
Click here for the official Rules and Eligibility details for the 2025 Best in Show Pets art competition.
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