March has kicked off with an array of competitions, accepting submissions from aspiring and established artists. Neos Kosmos has compiled a list of organisations dedicated to promoting creativity.

Amongst the many Australian competitions, a Greece based organisation is also open to entries from artists for its 2019 events.

Joining Athens Photo Festival 2019

Athens Photo Festival’s program for this year includes learning courses, open talks and portfolio reviews. The exhibition program will be comprised of a wide variety of works from all the image-based genres, ranging from fine art and conceptual to documentary and photojournalism, photo-based installations, performance, interactive and multimedia works.

Meanwhile, artists who submit to the photo display have the opportunity to be featured as part of an exhibition from 6 June to 26 July at the prestigious Benaki Museum/Pireos 138.

The Festival also welcomes submissions for its Photobook Show from artists around the globe in order to show the diversity of photography and visual culture in the world today. Last year there were participants from Indonesia to the UK. To be eligible for inclusion in Festival programming, proposals must be submitted before 31 March, 2019.

Apart from the main exhibition, there will be satellite exhibitions taking place at various locations around Athens.

The Greek Australian Cultural League (GACL), is nearing five decades of showing support towards the creative endeavours of Greek Australian writers, artists and musicians. Awarded a Medal for Excellence in Multicultural Affairs & Meritorious Service to the Community, the GACL contributes to the enrichment of literature and the arts by organising many successful annual events.

As such, it has just reopened submissions for both of its landmark events, the Antipodean Palette and the Literary Competition.
*To enter, go to https://www.photofestival.gr/#submit

Antipodean Palette Art Exhibition

Preparations have begun again for this year’s Antipodean Palette Art Exhibition, celebrating the diverse work of Greek Australian artists.
Since 2011, the Antipodean Palette has established itself as a major annual art event in the Greek community and invites artists nationwide to exhibit work in a variety of form and medium. This exhibition offers both emerging and established artists an ideal platform to network and introduce their work to the wider community. It also stimulates public interest in the Visual Arts by highlighting the wonderful talent existing in our community.

The Antipodean Palette is proudly presented by the Greek Australian Cultural League, a driving force behind many cultural events, which supports and promotes writers, artists and musicians.

The exhibition will be held at Steps Gallery, 62 Lygon St. Carlton from 23 May until 2 June, Mon to Fri 11.00am to 6.30pm, Sat- Sun 11.00am-4.00pm.

The official launch will take place on Thursday, 23 March, at 6.30 pm. On the opening day, visitors to the gallery will have the opportunity to select their favourite work for the ‘People’s Choice Award’.

Professional and emerging artists interested in taking part, can submit their entries online before 12 April 2019.

Submissions must include an artist statement, description and dimensions of work/s as well as digital images in JPEG or PNG files no larger than 10MB.

*For more details visit www.gacl.com.au or email gaclexhibitions@gmail.com

GACL Literary Competition

An established annual event in the cultural and literary scene of the Greek community in Australia, the Literary Competition includes works written in the Greek or English language, by writers residing in Australia and over 18 years of age, in the following categories: Poetry and Short story. The adjudication will be separate for each language.

Participants are required to complete a registration form which can be downloaded from the Greek-Australian Cultural League website (www.gacl.com.au) and should be emailed to the Literary Competition address: gaclitcomp@gmail.com (or use the application form included at the end of this letter and email it).

Participants may submit work in one or all the categories and in one or both languages, with only one piece in each category they choose with poems being up to 100 verses (lines) long while short stories should be 2000 words.

All submissions should be the original work(s) of the authors and should not have been submitted in another competition or have been previously published. Meanwhile, submissions are to be signed by a pseudonym (nom de plume) and the same pseudonym should be used in signing all the entries submitted by the same person. In a separate text sent to the same email address, participants are required to forward their particulars, including the pseudonym, the full name, address and telephone numbers and also, the number of verses in their poems and number of words in their short stories.

The First Prize in each category and in each language will receive a commemorative certificate and a monetary prize. The Second and Third Prizes and any Commendations will receive a commemorative award certificate and books, while the winning entries in each category in each language will be published in Issue No. 65, 2019 of the annual bilingual periodical of the GACL, ANTIPODES.

The results of the Literary Competition will be announced at a special function incorporating the launch of the periodical Antipodes in October 2019.
Submissions close on Friday 12 July, 2019 and are to be sent electronically (word doc) to the competition email address: gaclitcomp@gmail.com.