Carleton Place Youth Landscape Art Competition 2026 Online Registration

It’s the very first Carleton Place Youth Landscape Art Competition in 2026 and the theme this year is “The Beauty of Carleton Place”. We’re celebrating how our youth see this beautiful town and the wonderful talent we have right here. Brought to you by the Carleton Place Public Library and proudly sponsored by the Art Hub and Arts Carleton Place. We’ll also have some great prizes from local businesses who believe in the talented youth in our community.

WHEN

We’ll be kicking off this special event starting with an Information Session on Thursday, March 19 at 10:30am at the Carleton Place Public Library. It’s not mandatory to attend, but this will be a great opportunity to hear all about this event and ask lots of questions.  We’ll also have registration forms available at that session or you can fill out the online registration below to get on the list.

The actual event will take place on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 9am – 5pm. Once you register, you’ll be reminded to stop by the library that morning starting at 9am to CHECK IN and pick up a map with the approved locations for this event. All artwork must be completed on June 13, 2026 only, and submitted back to the library by 5pm in order to be considered for the Competition and the Art Show that follows. Please see the rules following.

WHO

Youth aged 7-17 will be invited to participate.  There will be three age categories:  Ages 7-10, Ages 11-14 & Ages 15-18.  All participants will only be judged within the category they fall into on June 13, 2026.  All artists who register, check in and then submit one piece of art by 5pm on June 13, 2026 will be considered for the Art Show and Competition to follow. Each age category will have their own prize, but all participants in the art show will also be considered for the “Best In Show” award voted on by the public who visit the library from June 15-25, 2026.

WHAT

“The Beauty of Carleton Place” is a landscape art competition in 2026. This means young artists must submit a piece of art that depicts an urban or natural landscape consistent with the approved locations on the map given out on the day of the event. Urban landscapes show buildings or parts of the architecture, and natural landscapes include plants, water, and land. Artworks may include people (with permissions) or animals, but they should only be used to enhance the chosen location, not be the primary subject.

Doing artwork outside is known as “Plein Air” artwork, which typically means that an artist will create the entire piece of art while outside. Since this is a youth art competition, we realize that this may not be feasible for families to remain in one outdoor location all day while the art is being created. Therefore, we will allow participants to take photos at one of the approved locations and use those photos at home as a reference if this is more adaptable to a family routine on the day of the event. We want to see what our youth believe to be “The Beauty of Carleton Place”.

WHERE

We won’t be releasing the list of approved locations until 9am on the morning of the event. Each participant who has registered MUST stop by the library that day to check in so that we know you are actually participating, and pick up a map of the locations.  The map will include a variety of places we feel might provide young artists with plenty of opportunity to show off their creative skills and also show us something they think is beautiful within Carleton Place. Some of the locations may not be expected–and we’d like everyone to have the same amount of time to create–from 9am-5pm on June 13, 2026–so don’t guess! Stop by the library and pick up a map and check in and you’ll be on your way.

MEDIUMS

We’d love to see how creative people can get!  Use paint, crayons, markers, collage–whatever will be the most creative and still allow the beauty of the location to shine.  Please do not encourage your young artist to use OILS as they take a long time to dry and we will not be able to support this medium at the library for safe display.  We would also ask that no one create sculpture as we will only have room to display pieces that can be hung.

JUDGING CRITERIA

The wonderful people at the ART HUB will be providing the library with displays and hanging the artwork professionally. We will host an art show inside the library from June 15-25, 2026.  On Saturday, June 20, 2026 from 1-2pm, we’ll hold a special awards event for the Art Show.  All participants who submit a piece of art will have their work on display. During the first week, artists from Arts Carleton Place will cast their votes for the best works in each age category. They’ll be looking for:

• best interpretation of the the theme “The Beauty of Carleton Place”
• Technical Skill
• Originality

Winners will be awarded prizes generously donated by local businesses and have their works displayed with the designation as a winning piece. Similarly, the public will vote on their favourite work in the Art Show which will be designated as “Best in Show” at the end of the art show period. Arts Carleton Place has also generously offered to host the winning pieces at the Art Hub after the event.

All artists will agree that their work is solely their own and will not include any copyrighted characters from television, movies, books, video games or other media.

To find out more about this fun competition, please attend the info session on Thursday, March 19 at 10:30am at the Carleton Place Public Library. If you can’t attend, feel free to email Heidi at hsinnett@carletonplace.ca or visit our website at https://carletonplacelibrary.ca

We can’t wait to see what all the young, talented artists will create around the Beauty of Carleton Place!