Open Calls or Themed Competitions: Which Gives You Better Odds?

Anushrita
3 days ago
5 min read

If you are an artist seeking to show your art and win recognition or awards, you may have wondered whether open calls or themed art competitions offer the best opportunity for success. There are pros and cons to each format, but it depends on your work as an artist, your portfolio, and your plans.

Thousands of artists answer calls for artists advertisements from galleries, museums, and sites every day. Some ask for their participants to submit something on any topic they choose, others on a theme, medium, or social issue. If you're ready to strategically apply, then you'll need to know how the opportunities differ.

Let's take a closer look at both options and where each most likely shines.

What Are Open Calls?

Open calls are open to artists to submit their work without any restrictions. Artists are free to select their preferred genre of art, form, size, etc., as they consider those choices to best reflect their practice, although the organisers might include some restrictions.

This format is a celebration of diversity. Landscapes, portraits, abstract paintings, mixed media, photography, and sculptures, along with digital art, may be submitted at the same time in a single competition. Since the requirement of a solitary story is not a criterion, one might expect jurors to pay more attention to originality, craftsmanship, technical skill, and artistic vision.

This format is offered in a large number of open art exhibitions as it is inclusive to artists from different backgrounds and creative fields.

Advantages of Open Calls

Greater creative freedom
Opportunity to submit your strongest existing work
Suitable for artists with diverse portfolios
Less pressure to create new work specifically for one competition

For artists still developing a signature style, open calls can be particularly valuable because they allow experimentation without forcing artwork into a predetermined category.

What Are Themed Art Competitions?

Themed art competitions are competitions with a specific theme or idea as opposed to open calls. It can be a landscape, wildlife, a portrait, flowers, abstract, water, environmental, cultural heritage, etc.

Judges are not only judging technical ability but also how well the artwork is able to elucidate the theme chosen. If two artists are equally capable, but one somehow brings in a clearer conceptual relationship with the focus of the competition, then that is how it will be expressed.

Many of the big art contests specialise in themed exhibitions as they form a collection that is interesting to audiences and collectors.

Which Has Better Odds?

The answer isn't universal.

Your chances depend less on the competition format and more on how well your artwork fits the judging criteria.

Open Calls: Higher Competition, Broader Opportunities

Since open calls do not have strict requirements as to style or subject, more people tend to submit to an open call. More competition may occur as a result.

If your work has a particular voice, however, diversity is as much a blessing as a fine balancer: Jurors are not comparing the same landscape genre of paintings; they are considering paintings across genres.

For those who have a distinctive and technically sound portfolio that stands out, there could be plenty of reasons to wish to get out there with open calls looking for recognition.

Themed Competitions: Smaller Pool, Specific Expectations

Themed art competitions don't always get as many entries since some artists won't work on that particular theme.

This can help you boost your statistics, but only if it is really fitting of the theme.

It is not usually successful to put up a landscape in a portrait competition or a portrait in a landscape competition category. You can tell when an artist has copied an existing piece of work, rather than thoughtfully responding to the brief, by judges' assessment.

Consider Your Existing Portfolio

It is quite simple to determine the difference between open calls and themed art contests by going over your art portfolio.

In an open competition, a lot of different genres of your portfolio compete with each other; you can then submit your best pieces without any restrictions.

Themed championships can also match those who work primarily in the areas of wildlife, botanical illustration, portraiture, or abstract painting.

Instead of artists producing original works for each competition, try to target competitions that fit your artwork style.

How Judges Evaluate Entries

Regardless of the format, most juries evaluate submissions using similar principles:

Technical skill
Originality
Composition
Creativity
Emotional or conceptual impact
Professional presentation

For themed art competitions, an additional factor becomes crucial:

How successfully does the artwork interpret the theme?

A beautifully executed painting that barely addresses the competition's subject may lose to a technically simpler piece with a stronger conceptual connection.

For open calls, originality often carries even greater weight because jurors compare vastly different artistic approaches.

Don't Chase Easy Wins

Many artists spend too much time searching for competitions with "better odds."

A more effective strategy is finding opportunities where your work naturally belongs.

Winning isn't simply about entering fewer competitors. It's about submitting artwork that resonates with the jury, matches the exhibition's purpose, and represents your artistic strengths.

Rather than asking:

"Where is the easiest competition?"

Ask:

"Where does my work make the strongest impression?"

That mindset usually produces better results over time.

Can You Enter Both?

Absolutely. Many professional artists maintain a balanced submission strategy.

Throughout the year, they enter both open calls and specialised art competitions, depending on new work and exhibition schedules.

For example:

Submit your strongest portfolio pieces to open international exhibitions.
Enter themed competitions that align closely with your artistic practice.
Rotate submissions to reach different audiences and juries.

This diversified approach increases exposure while preventing your portfolio from becoming restricted to a single niche.

Tips Before Responding to Any Call for Artists

When you are entering any kind of call for artists, do some research first.

Read the material to get a sense of who they're looking for, how they will judge, what types of media they accept, specified image requirements, deadlines, and past winners. Knowing what organisers are looking for can enable you to select the type of art that is most suitable, not just your favourite work.

It should also be taken into account that the exhibition opportunities, awards, publications, and networking with the organiser. The duration of exposure acquired by participating in esteemed art contests can be greater than the monetary awards it offers.

Last but not least, don't push the deadline. Good photographs, proper information for artwork, and professional artist statements can greatly enhance the application.

Final Thoughts

Competitions are not easier to win – it doesn't make a difference whether they're open calls or themed art competitions.

While open calls appreciate originality in any style of art, themed calls value artists who can compose and come up with the right technique for presenting a particular subject.

Don't just run to where the perceived amount of reward is, but if it's not there, go somewhere else. A carefully chosen call for artists that aligns with your artistic voice will almost always give you a stronger chance than entering competitions simply because they appear less competitive.

Ready to Submit Your Best Work?

TERAVARNA's Open International Juried Art Competition serves as a great starting point for you in finding an international opportunity that will accept and recognize works well, regardless of the subject. Artists from all over the world may enter their artwork and have their pieces gain international exposure, as well as other opportunities.