We are delighted to announce that the 2022 Engage Art Contest is now open! 

The Engage Art Contest is an international juried art contest on the topic of the Spiritual Battle. Until April 14, 2022, we are accepting submissions of (1) original visual art and (2) video arts.

Why Submit?

Why submit your art to Engage Art? We can think of a few good reasons. 

Prizes

We are offering $60,000 in cash prizes: $15,000 for 1^st place, $10,000 for 2^nd place, and $5,000 for 3^rd place in each category.

Simply put, we believe the arts are worth investing in. We appreciate artists and want to help them personally and professionally. In many ways, money gives people options they didn’t have before. There’s nothing like a little extra cash in your pocket to make both your professional and personal life better!

Exposure

The Engage Art Contest empowers artists like you by providing a platform to share your original work. There are significant exposure opportunities for all entrants who follow the contest guidelines. All exposure opportunities are free.

Artists whose work is accepted into the contest will earn an Artist Page and a page dedicated to their submission in our online Gallery. You can use these links in your own marketing and promotion. 

On these pages, we feature your artwork and the statements you write about it. We also feature your bio, social handles, links to your website, and other details you want to provide so potential customers and collaborators can connect with you.

Some submissions may be further showcased on our website and social media. For example, every track post in the Engage Art App features a piece of artwork from past Engage Art Contests, thoughtfully paired with a Scripture and reflection. 

Impact

We plan to actively invite other organizations, ministries, churches, youth groups and everyday people to contemplate the artwork submitted to Engage Art. The artwork you submit may be used to help others understand and reflect on the Spiritual Battle, their own lives, and Scripture. These groups and individuals may also want the artists to create more work for them. 

Growth

It’s good to challenge yourself! Create your best work and share it with the public (in our gallery) and a jury of experts (who will select semi-finalists, finalists, honorable mentions, and winners). Winners will receive valuable feedback that will help you advance your art practice. 

Our Contest is open to all artists.

• Painters
• Rappers
• Sculptors
• Filmmakers
• Spoken Word Artists
• Classical composers
• Modern dancers
• Photographers
• Performance Artists
• etc.

The bottom line: if you create art, we would love to see it!

We are collecting submissions in two categories: Visual Art and Video Arts. Any art form best captured in an image goes into the Visual Art category. Any art form best captured on video—music, performance, film—should be entered into theVideo Arts category.

This contest is open to the whole world. Any adult (the person submitting must be 18), from any nation, who makes art of any kind, is invited to participate. Collaborations are encouraged. Teams are welcome. And people under 18 can be part of a group submission, as long as there is someone over 18 to be the official Entrant and the minor has written permission from a parent or guardian.  

Topic

The Topic of the Engage Art Contest is the Spiritual Battle between good and evil.       

Every Engage Art Contest has centered around Ephesians 6:10-20, commonly known as the Spiritual Battle passage, considering the relevance of this passage to modern life. The submissions can illuminate the Spiritual Battle as a whole or any part of the following verses (truth, righteousness, etc.). Entries can also reflect on other verses, as long as they refer back to this Ephesians passage. 

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Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (EPHESIANS 6:10-20)

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The Spiritual Battle has raged from before recorded history until the present moment. Humans play a critical and sometimes unwitting part in this confrontation between Good and Evil. The Word of God is meant to aid us in this endeavor. His Word provides both our offense and our defense, critical information, a playbook, inspiration, direction, sanctuary, and fortification.  

Engage Art creates a space for artists to express their vision of the Spiritual Battle, inviting all artists to reflect on this critical spiritual dynamic. Battle imagery is not required and all perspectives are welcome.

How to Submit

Submitting is easy, but you need to have all the information ready before you begin.

We accept submissions through our website at engageart.org/submissions. There’s a big blue button at the top right of every page to get you started. We recommend that you take time to prepare all your materials first, to give your submission its best chance. 

You may submit one piece of original Visual Art and/or one original Video (3 minutes long, max). You may submit in both categories, but only one artwork per category. FIle type and size requirements are important: You’ll want to check our website for all the details.

You will also submit two written statements the jurors look at closely: an Artist’s Statement, about your journey, inspiration and process; and a statement on Contest Fit, about how your piece relates specifically to the Spiritual Battle or Ephesians 6:10-20. 

We have a free writer’s guide in module 5 of our free workbook/ecourse that walks you through all the writing you need to prepare for your submission. You can draft all your statements right in the workbook (on the computer or by printing it out) before submitting on the website.

When you are submitting, we will ask for other details, including credits, written copyright permission for anything you use that you didn’t create, and a complete transcript for all videos. You’ll also need to sign a contract and be an active subscriber to our App. 

Please plan—and reserve time—to research, reflect, write, collect, and document the required materials before you begin the submitting process.  Once you begin, it’s only 3 short pages, but:

• you cannot save your submission and come back to it another time.

• once you have submitted your entry, you cannot change anything about it.

We’ve made a detailed walkthrough of the submission process. It is available as a free PDF download here: Module 6: Submit. 

Need More Inspiration?

Jeremiah Bligen has been writing and releasing albums since 2012. He won 2^nd Place for Music in our 2018 Contest, then went on to win 1^st Place for Music Video in our 2020 Contest. Here are his thoughts for artists.

“Most of us who are artists, we know that it runs so much deeper than what our art can get for us. It's an expression that's almost tormenting in a lot of cases. Our art works on its own. We don't trigger it—it's always working, always moving. It's so close to who I am that I think we do art a disservice when we attach the need to get us something monetarily. 

“We know that when it comes to producing things at a certain level of quality, it takes more, but it does not require that to begin. You can always begin to create what the Lord has placed inside of you, no matter where you are, no matter what you have at your disposal. Whatever He currently has given you is sufficient for you to do what He has for you to do. Because He plus anything equals everything; because He is sufficient for us. My advice is to look to God as the source of our creativity and God as the source of our resources.”

Join Us!

Are you an artist? we hope you will submit to the Engage Art Contest before April 14, 2022. Do you know an artist? We hope you consider passing this opportunity along to them. Are you an art appreciator? You can check out the  new submissions in our Gallery as they come in. They’re pretty great!

In addition, our Resources and Community pages hold a broad spectrum of resources and connections you might find interesting and valuable. Whatever your day holds, we hope you take some time today to Engage Culture, Engage Scripture, and Engage Art.