2. How do I enter?

You need to send an entry form to our Secretary, Pat Heffer - address on the form, to arrive before the closing date of July 9th 2008. With the entry form you should send copies of your entries, not original works. These copies may be in the form of good prints, no larger than A4 (8.25" x 11.7"), photos, or high resolution scans on a CD (at least 300ppi, around 10-30Mb .bmp or .tiff format for PC not Mac). Slides are not accepted. Up to three works may be submitted. Submission is free to full members. Associate members will be asked for £8 per entry, non-members for £15 per entry. If you think this level of pricing is designed to encourage you to join us, you are of course correct. Along with your entry form you will be asked to send a brief bio and description of each picture that will be printed onto a small card to be displayed alongside the picture in the Gallery.

Please note in particular these conditions of entry:

3. How are the entries judged?

Three hard copies (A4 prints) will be made of all entries, and one copy of every entry sent to our panel of judges, which this year is headed by Janie Gildow, CPSA. Two other judges will be appointed, one from our principal sponsors for 2008, Faber Castell ltd. These judges will rate the works independently, and a numerical system will be used to select the 60 (approx) works that will be hung in the Gallery. The judges will be asked to select a variety of works showing the full range of capabilities of the coloured pencil medium.

4. How will I know if I have been accepted?

You will be notified before 20th August whether you have been accepted or not.

5. If I have been successful, how do I get my picture to the Gallery?

Pictures should be delivered to the Gallery ON 1st October. We understand that this will not be possible for many people, and will contact each successful artist to establish how we plan to get the picture there. This may involve artists delivering to collection points, to be taken on, but for many it will mean posting work. Obviously for overseas entrants this causes problems - and considerable costs.

UK based artists might wish to use a courier service like Art Moves, which will undertake to collect and deliver back to you, thus saving our volunteers a lot of work. We would encourage any UK artist to consider this, but as it obviously involves a cost and we do not wish to make entry to our exhibitions prohibitively expensive, we are not making this type of service a condition of entry just yet! If UK artists have to post packages to Pat or other volunteers, this can typically be done for around £10-£30 each way, depending on size and weight. Please do not send these - as has been done in the past - wrapped in a towel and brown paper.

Many US artists have successfully sent pictures through the post to us in the past, but this has not always been a happy experience. Please take every care when packing, and Plexiglass rather than glass is essential if you are mailing. A sturdy box containing cut foam rubber inserts, bubblewrap and some hard protection over the actual painting should be standard. It is essential that the packaging should be re-usable if we are to return it to you. The UKCPS will only repack works in the packaging supplied, it will not purchase new boxes etc. Our member Katherine Tyrell has done a very useful blog post about packing which you can see here. You will be asked to mail the works to either Pat Heffer, or to another volunteer, who will undertake to unpack, transport to the gallery, collect afterwards and repack. This service is offered at the artists own risk. The UKCPS, while making every effort to look after the pictures entrusted to us, cannot be held liable for any loss or damage incurred in this part of the transportation process. Collection of the package should then be arranged by the courier of the artists choice - see below.

Please be aware that costs may be high. In particular, it seems that costs of the return journey may be much higher than the journey into the UK. Sometimes this is due to the fact that the artist has sent the picture to us using the US Postal Service, but we cannot return it using the UK equivalent (ParcelForce) as the size limitations for Parcelforce are smaller than for US Postal. This may not be a problem this year as we have a size limitation on all works that should meet the Parcelforce requirements easily, but it is the responsibility of the artist to check these things out first. Another problem seems to be that US Postal actually weighs the packages while some other carriers apply an "Average Density" weight based on the SIZE of the packages, which may well result in the package being charged at a higher weight than it actually is. It may well be worth while asking if your preferred courier service will do a pick-up return that you can pay for in advance and get clear quotes for in advance. It should also be possible to check out prices on the websites of the major companies so that no nasty surprises arrive when your package is delivered back to you. As a guide, one artist last year was able to send us some work for under $100 but it cost over $300 for me to send it back. A quick look at our Exhibition pages will show you which artists have sent us work in the past - if you know any of these artists, it would be worthwhile having a chat with them to find out the pitfalls and approximate costs.

Insurance is at the discretion of each artist and will inevitably incur extra costs.

There does seem to be one advatage of using the US Postal service rather than Fed-ex or other commercial carriers - apart from any cost differences. It seems that the commercial carriers tend to automatically add on Customs duty, which you have to reclaim afterwards. If you can mark your parcel "For Exhibition Overseas ONLY", this may help avoiding that charge, but seems to be no guarantee. There is a customs exemption for art work moving to and from an exhibition only, and not in free circulation in the European Union, but it is up to the artist to fathom this out and ensure it is specified on the relevant documents. The artist will be liable for all charges, no costs will be borne by the UKCPS. If we have to pay customs duty in order for the picture to enter this country, we will contact you and request payment first. If this results in the picture being delayed to the point where it cannot be entered in the exhibition, this will be the artists fault.

6. What about getting it back?

A commission of 25% will be claimed by the Gallery on any sold works, and only one of any succesful artists entries can be Not For Sale. Unsold pictures must be collected from the Gallery before 30th October 2008. Arrangements can be made for them to be collected by our volunteers on your behalf and returned to you in the post, or via collection points to be arranged individually.

For pictures that are to be mailed back to the US or other overseas areas, the UKCPS will follow the instructions of the artist as to which service to use, and request copies of documentation for insertion on the parcels if the artist has not sorted that with the carrier. It is essential again that correct customs statements are made, to avoid being charged on re-importation of the picture, and that packaging is secure enough for TWO journeys, not just the one. One particular problem we have had is that even if the artist supplies us with an account number against which the return is to be charged, it is possible for the UKCPS to end up footing the bill. If the recipient does not pay the invoice that arrives with the returned parcels within 90 days, the sender is automatically charged. This is written into the contract that the sender agrees to by signing the weighbill, and the carrier will not accept the parcels with an unsigned weighbill. Because of this clause which seems to exist in every carrier's Terms and Conditions, we may have to send works on our own account number and ask that we are re-imbursed BEFORE posting works back to the artist. We are still in discussion over this issue.

If there is no urgency over returns, surface mail may be cheaper, though it takes 4-6 weeks.

There COULD be problems with Customs if a piece marked "For Exhibition Only" is subsequently sold. The piece has then been effectively imported into the UK, whilst avoiding Customs Duty. To avoid possible lawsuits, if this happens the artist should contact Customs and Excise to discuss the situation and offer to pay the Duty.

Any other questions, please ask Bob Ebdon, Founder, or Pat Heffer, Exhibition Secretary, and they will be pleased to help. In particular they may be able to put you in touch with artists who have entered works from abroad in the past to discuss any particular problems in more detail.