$14K In Prize Money To Be Awarded To Bethesda Painting Winners

BETHESDA, MD — Artists from Maryland, Virginia and D.C. have until Feb. 28, 2023 to submit work to the 19th annual Bethesda Painting Awards, a juried art competition that awards $14,000 in prizes to four selected winners.

Up to eight finalists will be chosen to display their work at Bethesda’s Gallery B in June 2023, according to the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District.

The competition will be juried by Lillian Hoover, artist and Best in Show Winner of the Trawick Prize 2012; Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi, artist and finalist of Bethesda Painting Awards; and John Lee, associate professor of painting at the College of William & Mary.

The first-place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birthdate is after Feb. 28, 1993, may also be awarded $1,000.

Artists can apply online or download an application online. For information on the Bethesda Painting Awards, visit www.bethesda.org, or call 301-215-6660.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D painting including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition.

Each artist must submit five images, an application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

The Bethesda Painting Awards competition was established by local business owner Carol Trawick in 2005. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda and established The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation in 2007.

She is the former chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, past Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and founder of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards.

Best in Show winners include:

• 2022, Andrew Hladky, Kensington, MD
• 2021, Megan Lewis, Baltimore, MD
• 2020, Lawrence Cromwell, Baltimore, MD
• 2019, Mary Anne Arntzen, Baltimore, MD
• 2018 Carolyn Case, Cockeysville, MD
• 2017 Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, Washington, D.C.
• 2016 Tanja Softic, Richmond, VA
• 2015 Bill Schmidt, Baltimore, MD
• 2014 Kyle Hackett, Baltimore, MD
• 2013 Barry Nemett, Stevenson, MD
• 2012 Ali Miller, Baltimore, MD
• 2011 Alison Hall, Roanoke, VA
• 2010 Nora Sturges, Baltimore, MD
• 2009 Camilo Sanin, Jessup, MD
• 2008 B.G. Muhn, North Potomac, MD
• 2007 Matthew Klos, Baltimore, MD
• 2006 Tony Shore, Baltimore, MD
• 2005 Joe Kabriel, Annapolis, MD