Long Island's Best Guidelines & Important Dates 2024

• Students must complete a Student Entry Form with the following:
  • Student contact information
  • Teacher contact information
  • School name and grade level
  • Artwork title and medium
  • Name of exhibition, artwork title, and artist name that inspired the student
  • Student’s artist statement explaining their work and how it was inspired by a work of art from the Museum.
  • Images/Videos & Dimensions for jurying purposes:
    • 2-D artwork
      • 2 Images: 1 full view, 1 detail view.
        • Must be in .jpg or .jpeg format
        • Maximum 5 MB each
      • Dimensions: height and width – in inches (maximum 48” h x 36” w)
    •  3-D and 3-D relief artwork
      • 3 Images: 2 full view (from different angles), 1 detail view.
        • Must be in .jpg or .jpeg format.
        • Maximum 5 MB each
      • Dimensions: height, width, and depth – in inches (maximum 72” h x 24” w x 30” d)
      • A video is optional for 3-D work to show it from multiple angles. (If the file is too large to upload in the form, we ask that you please share the file via a Google Drive [or other equivalent file-sharing app] link either in the Student Entry Form or directly with our email education@heckscher.org. This must be done before the deadline of March 13, 2023.)
    •  Kinetic (moving) or interactive artwork
      • A video is required to show the movement/interactive aspect of the work.
      • File must be in .mov or .mp4 format, max 20 MB (if using the Student Entry Form to submit it).
      • If the file is too large to upload in the Student Entry Form, please share the file via a Google Drive [or other equivalent file-sharing app] link either in the Student Entry Form or directly with our email address education@heckscher.org. This must be done before the deadline of March 13, 2023. (Any questions/concerns, please email education@heckscher.org)
    • Video/Films
      • Video must be in .mov or .mp4 format, max 20 MB.
      • If the file is too large to upload in the Student Entry Form, please share the file via a Google Drive [or other equivalent file-sharing app] link either in the Student Entry Form or directly with our email address education@heckscher.org. This must be done before the deadline of March 13, 2023. (Any questions/concerns, please email education@heckscher.org)

• Students must be enrolled in grades 9-12 at a participating school in Nassau or Suffolk County, New York. (Schools must complete a School Registration Form and pay a $60 registration fee by December 2, 2022 in order to participate.)
• Each student may submit only one work of art. (Collaborative pieces by more than one student are welcome and count as one work of art.)
• Painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, photography, computer graphics, sculpture, mixed media, fashion, and video artwork may be submitted.
• Schools may only submit the number of entries their school has been allotted. Completing the School Registration Form and paying the $60 fee earns the school 4 artwork entries. (More entries may be earned by scheduling programs with the museum. Learn more about programs.)
• The maximum number of entries a school can earn is 20.
• Artwork must be based on professional works of art shown in The Heckscher Museum during the 2022-2023 school year and created and selected for submission under the guidance of the school’s art teacher(s). Students may select from the following five exhibitions. Images of all of the artwork in these exhibits are available online at https://www.heckscher.org/libest23-videos-images/  (Please note that this page requires a password, which is emailed to all participating teachers. If you cannot locate this password/need it to be resent to you, please email education@heckscher.org or call 631.380.3292 and we will provide it for you.)
  • Global Asias: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation 
  • Long Island Biennial 2022 
  • Raise the Roof: The Home in Art
  • Viewfinders: Photographers Frame Nature
  • Three Paintings by Richard Mayhew, Betty Parsons, and Jane Wilson

• Students are invited to submit process and behind-the-scenes videos from their own TikTok and Instagram accounts for jurying along with their Student Entry Forms this year.
• Select exhibiting students’ videos will be featured in the Museum alongside their artwork via QR codes and with their artwork in the virtual exhibition on heckscher.org. Select videos will also be featured on the Museum’s TikTok and Instagram @heckschermuseum.
• The following requirements must be met if submitting a video. **If all of these criteria are not met, your video application will not be accepted.**
  • First, share your video on TikTok or Instagram.
    • Tag @heckschermuseum and #libestchallenge.
    • If you are using TikTok: your video must be set to be DOWNLOADABLE.
    • If you are using Instagram: your account must be PUBLIC & you must have the original video file accessible to upload in this form.
  • Then, complete the optional Video Challenge portion of the Student Entry Form. 

ONLY the artwork accepted into the exhibition will need to be hand-delivered by the art teacher to the Museum. This artwork must be delivered ready to display on Monday, February 26, 2024. See guidelines below.

• Two-dimensional/ Wall-hanging artwork:
  • Work must be ready to hang with hardware and/or wiring on the back.
  • Works on paper must have glass or Plexiglas.
  • All frames must be solid black or white.

• Three-dimensional artwork:
  • The Museum will supply pedestals, as needed.

• Video/Film:
  • Videos/films accepted into the exhibition do not need to be hand-delivered, as the files will already be submitted in the Student Entry Form.

*The Museum will not accept work that is unstable, damaged, or does not meet specified conditions and guidelines. The Museum is not responsible for damage that may occur during transportation.  Students are advised to protect artwork during travel.

Each school planning to have their students participate in Long Island’s Best 2024 must complete a School Registration Form and pay a non-refundable $75 registration fee by November 20, 2023. This entitles the school to 4 student entries, created and selected under the guidance of the art teacher(s). Only one form is required per school. Names and email addresses for all potentially participating teachers are required. Once the form and fee are received, all teacher(s) will be added to the Long Island’s Best 2024 e-mail list. 

Student Entry Forms are due by 11:59 pm on Thursday, February 1, 2024. See Submission Requirements above, which outline the information required in this form. Students must submit images and the dimensions of their work with this form for jurying purposes. There is also an Optional Video Challenge component of this form. See details about the video challenge above.

The Heckscher Museum’s Curator and guest juror Beth Atkinson will jury the 2024 exhibition using the images and videos, dimensions, and artist statements submitted in the Student Entry Forms. Approximately 80 works of art will be selected from the hundreds of works of art submitted.

All students and teachers will be emailed with the results of the jurying process on Friday, February 16, 2024. Long Island’s Best is a juried competition, and not all artwork submitted will be accepted for the exhibition. All students and teachers whose work is not accepted into the exhibition will receive Certificates of Participation in the mail at their schools.

Once teachers learn these results, they must prepare all work accepted into the show for delivery on Monday, February 26, 2- 5 pm. See Accepted Artwork Guidelines for FRAMING above.

Hand delivery of all artwork in the exhibition by teachers (not students) will take place on Monday, February 26, 2024, 2 – 5 pm. All artwork must:

• Have a completed Artwork Label/Photo Release form (link to form coming soon!) attached to it.
• Be ready for display/hanging. See Accepted Artwork Guidelines for FRAMING above.

Students who receive awards, as well as their teachers, will be notified of these awards on or before March 1, 2024 via email and/or phone. These students and their friends, family, and teachers are invited to attend an Awards Ceremony on Saturday, March 23, 2024.

All student artwork in the exhibition will be displayed with an object label that includes their name, school, grade level, art teacher’s name, artist statement, the name of the artwork that inspired them, an image of that artwork, and any awards received. Any students who entered videos into the video challenge and were accepted will have a QR code on their label for visitors to access their videos on social media using their phones.

In addition to the exhibition  in the Museum, images of all student artwork and all of this information will also be posted on the Museum’s website, heckscher.org, beginning March 30, 2024.

All exhibiting artists and their friends, family, and teachers are invited to a special Preview Day on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Award-winning students and their friends, family, and teachers are additionally invited to attend an Awards Ceremony that evening to be formally presented with their awards.