WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Mankato, kicked off the 2018 Congressional Art Competition by inviting high school students from across Minnesota’s First District to submit their artwork for the contest.

Beginning in 1982, the Congressional Art Competition has served as an opportunity for members of Congress to recognize and encourage the artistic talent in the nation, as well as in each congressional district.

Le Sueur-Henderson High School student Cassidy Hill won last year’s First District competition with her acrylic painting titled, “Blind Beauty.”

The first place winner will have their artwork displayed in the Cannon Tunnel, leading to the U.S. Capitol, for an entire year. The art contest is free and open to students in grades nine through 12 who live in Minnesota’s First Congressional District or attend high school in the district.

Accepted mediums for the two-dimensional artwork are as follows:

•Paintings: oil, acrylics, watercolor, etc.

•Drawings: colored pencil, pencil, ink, marker, pastels, charcoal (It is recommended that charcoal and pastel drawings be fixed.)

•Collages: must be two dimensional.

•Prints: lithographs, silkscreen, block prints.

•Mixed Media: use of more than two mediums such as pencil, ink, watercolor, etc.

•Computer-generated art.

•Photographs.

To enter into this year’s Congressional Art Competition, please submit a framed work of art along with the Student Information and Release Form to the Rochester or Mankato district office by March 23. Addresses are: Rochester office:  1202 ½ 7th Street Northwest, Suite 211, Rochester, MN 55901; and Mankato office:  527 ½ South Front Street, Mankato, MN 56001.

For more on rules of the competition, go to: https://walz.house.gov/services/art-competition

The submitted artwork will be displayed during the month of April in the downtown Rochester Skyway located just east of the DoubleTree Hotel, also known as the “Art in the Sky” display. Professional artists will determine the winner of the competition, which will be announced on April 16.