We Have Contests for All Ages
Submit Your Work for our Cycles Contest (Borrowed with admiration from elementia)
Our cycles contests award each winner with a $200 honorarium and the chance to read their work at an upcoming event.
Our current contest prompt is:
From the biological life cycle to seemingly unbreakable habits, we are surrounded by cycles. Everything has a beginning and an end, but what about the in between? Is it possible to escape a cycle? What cycles do we see perpetuate for generations? How do events cycle through history as it “repeats itself”? Where do we see cycles within cycles? What about the beliefs held as a society? Explore the cycles your identity was born of. Describe the cycles that should have been broken by now. Search for loopholes and travel through them. Which cycles are you trying to break and why? Share with us what the cycles in your life mean to you.
See additional previous winners »
Read more about the guidelines and enter your original works »
Submit Your Work for our annual publication Volume
Enter your writing or art submission for a chance to be included in Volume, our annual publication distributed at our upcoming Writers Conference. This printed, spiral bound, easy-to-carry publication is part anthology, part journal, and celebrates local writers and artists. Our Volume 6 theme is fishing: Whether it be fishing for compliments, fishers of men, or actual fishing for fish, tell us about the ways you cast your net, what you’re hoping to catch, and the surprises along the way. Submission deadline is July 15, 2023.
Why is fishing our theme?
This year's theme honors Bert Berkley, an avid fly fisher, who has supported many of Johnson County Library's writing programs through the Joan Berkley Writers Fund. Administered by the Johnson County Library Foundation, Bert and the Berkley family started the fund in 2013 to honor his late wife Joan, who was an avid reader and lover of literature.
Read about 98-year-old Bert’s passion for fly-fishing in Anglers Journal »
Read more about the guidelines and enter your original works »
Our spring teen sticker design contest has closed. Please check back soon for more information about our summer youth short story and sticker contests, which will run from June 1- July 1, 2023.
Annual Bookmark Contest:
Post-it note? Your napping kitty's tail? Folded corner (gasp!)? None of those are nearly as cool as having a bookmark with your very own artwork on it. Enter your bookmark art in the 2023 Friends Annual Bookmark Design Contest Entry Enjoy the 2022 Bookmark Contest Winners »
Exhibitions:
We have ten library branches with dedicated art gallery spaces of various sizes. We seek a diverse selection of artwork that inspires, educates and promotes community connection, created by artists in the Kansas City metro area. Selected artists receive an honorarium and the opportunity to exhibit artwork at one of our branch galleries for approximately 14 weeks. Artwork is selected by a team of Johnson County Library staff members. Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis throughout the year. Read more and submit your work »
The Art of Biking:
Johnson County Library is seeking local visual artists to engage the community through an exhibition of public artwork to coincide with the 2023 Women’s Bike Summit, which the Library will host during the fall of 2023. The theme of this exhibition will be The Art of Biking. Read more and submit your work »