Artists’ Page

Applications for the 2020 Festival are now closed. Check back in min-March 2021 for applications for the 2021 Festival.

About the Festival

The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is a juried art show. Each year, we receive more than 600 applications for the festival. Applications are available online in March. Each applicant is required to submit three images of their work and one image of their display area along with their application. Qualified jurors are shown each artist’s work simultaneously and anonymously, and collectively choose more than 200 artists who will be invited to exhibit their work.

The festival consistently receives high marks in publications such as Sunshine Artist (ranked #9 of the best 100 fine art and design shows for 2019) and Art Fair SourceBook (ranked #19 of the top 100 fine art events for 2019). Locally, the festival was voted "Best Annual Event" by Independent News Weekly readers in their 2019 "Best of the Coast" issue.

Best of Show, Awards of Distinction, Awards of Excellence, Awards of Honor, Awards of Merit, and Judges Award winners from the previous year’s festival are exempt from the jurying process for the following year.

A total of $25,000 in prize money is awarded.

• Best of Show: $3,000
• 5 Awards of Distinction: $1,400 each
• 5 Awards of Excellence: $1,200 each
• 5 Awards of Honor: $800 each
• 5 Awards of Merit: $600 each
• 5 Judges Awards: $400 each