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Event History

The PleinAir Salon Art Competition has been awarding cash prizes and promoting artists for 14 years. In the spirit of the French Salon created by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, this annual competition, with 12 monthly cycles, leading to the annual PleinAir Salon winners, is designed to stimulate artistic growth through competition. The competition rewards artists with $50,000 in all cash prizes and exposure of their work, with the winning painting featured on the cover of PleinAir magazine. Winners in each monthly competition may receive recognition and exposure through PleinAir magazine’s print magazine, e-newsletters, and social media. Winners of each competition will also be entered into the annual competition that is awarded each spring.

What Makes this event different?

Our competition is entirely online, eliminating the need to mail your artwork for an exhibition. You can also enter paintings regardless of whether they’ve won in other competitions. Each Grand Prize winner is awarded $15,000 and has their artwork showcased on the cover of PleinAir Magazine, the leading representational art magazine available at Barnes & Noble. The winners of each monthly competition are automatically entered into the running for the Annual Competition and that $15,000 check!

Copyright Policy

By entering the PleinAir Salon Online Art Competition, you agree that you are submitting images of your own original artwork and not that of other artists or material in which you do not hold the copyright. The original work does not have to currently be in your possession.

Image Usage Rights

You are also agreeing, in advance, to have your submitted artwork and your image published to any print or digital/electronic property of Streamline Publishing, Inc. This includes, but is not limited to, print and digital magazines, newsletters, websites, e-mails, social media pages, and promotional materials in perpetuity.

Call for Entries for Plein Air Painters

The PleinAir Salon Art Competition is a year-round online contest that distributes $50,000 in total annual prizes. It includes 12 monthly competitions leading up to the Annual Competition, where the Grand Prize winner receives $15,000 and a feature on the cover of PleinAir Magazine. We award $2,150 in each monthly cycle to the 23 winners who will be automatically entered into the Annual Competition, where we will award $24,250.

The annual awards will be presented live at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in May 2025. 

For more information about this art competition, please visit the Event Website.