Unique by Nature Juried Art Competition deadlines approaching!

Unique by Nature
Juried Art Competition and Exhibition, April 2026
Awards Reception, April 18, 2025, 6pm-8pm
City Hall, 401 E. Virginia St., McKinney

McKinney, Texas -- Unique by Nature is hosted by the McKinney Performing Arts Center, City of McKinney. Sponsors include citizen leaders dedicated to the growth of the arts in McKinney. The competition has two categories:  Large Works Purchase Prize Competition, and Non-Purchase Prize Competition and Juried Exhibition.  This year the Large Works Purchase Prize submissions will be juried, and finalists judged, by Emily Budd, Assistant Professor of Art at the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas).  A highly acclaimed artist with a background in paleontology, Budd founded the expanding social form project, Aluminati, which materializes the transformative and collaborative power of foundry craft to imagine and empower deep change. Ms. Budd will also jury and judge the Non-Purchase Prize Competition and Juried Exhibition.

 
Unique by Nature Juried Art Competition and Exhibition – Deadlines and Dates

Category A:  Large Works Purchase Prize Competition

Category B:  Non-Purchase Prize Competition and Juried Exhibition

PLEASE access the downloadable Prospectus for further submission requirements for BOTH categories of the competition at www.artsandmusicguild.org/ubn-competition.

Deadlines for Category A:  Large Works Purchase Prize Competition

• Friday, March 27- Online entry submission deadline at 7 p.m.
• Link for online submissions: https://mckinneypac.wufoo.com/forms/szlrnh10x5cajv/
• Thursday, April 2 - Notification of Finalists for Purchase Prize Competition
• Thursday, April 9 - Deadline to deliver Finalists for Purchase Prize Competition
   
  Drop-off dates for Category B: Non-Purchase Prize Competition and Juried Exhibition

Please see Prospectus for complete changes in requirements, location and drop-off times from previous years!

New location for in-person submissions and event: City Hall, 401 E. Virginia St., McKinney

In-person entry submission April 6 - April 9, 9 am - 5 pm, and April 10, 2 pm – 5 pm

Note, the last day for in-person entry submission - Friday, April 10, 2 pm - 5 pm

Unique by Nature Art Competition Awards Reception and Exhibition:  Saturday, April 18, 6 pm-8 pm

Exhibition on display April 18 – May 14, City Hall, 1st and 2nd floors

May 18 – 20, 9 am – 5 pm – Retrieve work, City Hall Lobby
 
Cash and purchase prizes will be distributed as follows:
The Large Works Purchase Prize of $6,000 will be awarded to the work of art chosen by Emily Budd to become part of the permanent public art collection of the McKinney Performing Arts Center. Submission fees become the prize pool for the Non-Purchase Prize category, with awards of $500 each given to prize-winners chosen by Emily Budd.
 
Unique by Nature is open to professional and emerging artists who are legal residents of the United States and at some point in time have been residents, or are currently residents, of Texas. Entrants must be at least 17 years of age by May 2026.

PLEASE access the downloadable Prospectus for further submission requirements for BOTH categories of the competition at www.artsandmusicguild.org/ubn-competition.