RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Art Competition for 2025

110 years of the ANZAC Spirit

Consider:

• Four words encompass the ANZAC Spirit: Courage, Mateship, Sacrifice and Endurance.
• A personal connection to the student’s Australian defence family history.
• Connecting the history of Australian service with contemporary veterans on ANZAC Day.

Each school may submit a maximum of two artworks. Multi-campus schools may submit two artworks per campus.

Each sector head office will complete the first round of judging, where two primary and two secondary finalists will be selected. The Department of Education can submit up to three primary and three secondary finalists.

Fourteen finalists will be judged by an expert judging panel, where one primary and one secondary submission will be chosen as the winners.

The judging criteria will consider:

• Conceptional strength;
• Relevance of the submitted artwork to the theme;
• Artistic interpretation of the theme; and
• Originality of the submission.

The judges’ decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

All finalists, including winners, get:

• A session with the Anzac Memorial Veteran Artist in Residence*
• Artwork on display at the Anzac Memorial in April 2025
• Finalist certificate and medal
• Invitation to attend the 2025 RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Service and Exhibition Launch

*pending program proceeding in 2025

In addition, winning artists also get:

• An invitation to attend the 2025 NSW ANZAC Day Dawn Service in Martin Place as VIPs
• Artwork featured on the cover of the 2025 RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Service Program

Each school may submit a maximum of two artworks. Multi-campus schools may submit two artworks per campus. For schools that are K-12 please submit a separate form for primary and secondary school entries.

Artworks must be scanned or photographed and attached to the online submission form, which can be found at the bottom of this page. If using a phone to create the image, please ensure that the camera frames the artwork with the edges in frame. Artworks should be saved as high resolution either as PDF or JPEG format.

Ensure your artwork file is named as: ‘SchoolName_ArtworkTitle’

All finalists will be required to complete a Permission to Publish form. This form must be provided and sent in with their original artwork for the expert judging panel. Please note this form will be for the finalists only and will be sent to the finalists’ schools when they are announced.

• 20 May 2024: Competition opens
• 1 November 2024: Competition closes
• 15 November 2024: Finalists are announced and notified
• 6 December 2024: Winners announced and notified
• 3 April 2025: Finalists attend RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Service, Exhibition Launch and Workshop
• 3 – 30 April 2025: Exhibition at Anzac Memorial

Can regional and remote schools enter?

Yes, the competition is open to all students in all primary and secondary schools within NSW.

Are there any age restrictions?

No, the competition is open to students of all ages in primary and secondary school. Students must be attending school in 2024.

Can we submit a group/class artwork?

No, the competition is only open to individual students’ artwork.

Can I copy?

The judges are looking for originality and only original work is eligible for the competition. You must not copy an artwork or photograph created by another person or an image from another source such as the internet or a print publication.

Do I have to enter a painting?

No. You can use any physical materials you like, including paint, pencil, oil pastel, crayon and collage, as long as the artwork is dry, has no sharp edges, is two dimensional and doesn’t sit higher than 5mm above the surface of the paper. Print-outs of digitally created drawings (eg those drawn with a stylus on a tablet) are not eligible for entry.

Can I use a canvas board or similar material, rather than paper?

No as the finalist’s artwork will be on display in a frame, restriction on both size and material, and specify works need to be A3 portrait and on paper.

Does the artwork need to be created at school in class?

No, students can create their artwork at home or within the curriculum.

Curriculum references

K – 6 Creative Arts

7 – 10 Visual Arts

Can the school enter more than once?

No. You can only submit 1 entry per school with a maximum of 2 finalists’ artwork.

Can I submit my child’s own artwork?

No, all submissions must be done through the school. Each school can submit a maximum of 2 artworks for judging.

How do I obtain the Permission to Publish form?

All finalists will be required to complete a Permission to Publish form. This form must be provided and sent in with the original artwork for the expert judging panel. Please note this form will be for the finalists only and will be sent to the finalists’ schools when they are announced.

Who is on the expert judging panel?

The panel is made up of representatives from the NSW Department of Education Arts Unit, Art Gallery of NSW, RSL NSW and the Anzac Memorial Veteran Artist in Residence.

How are finalists and winners announced

Finalists will be announced via email to the school on 15 November 2024.

Winners will be announced via email to the school on 6 December 2024.

All announcements will also be shared on RSL NSW’s website and social media channels.

For general competition questions please contact RSL NSW: events@rslnsw.org.au

Contact details for your school sector:

Department of Education: DoEEvents@det.nsw.edu.au

Association of Independent Schools NSW: ctuttocuore@aisnsw.edu.au

Catholic Schools NSW: Philippa.Bucknell@csnsw.catholic.edu.au

Click here to download promotional flyers, posters and social media tiles

The competition “parties” are The Returned and Services League of Australia (NSW Branch) (RSL NSW), The Anzac Memorial, NSW Office of Veteran Affairs, NSW Department of Education, Association of Independent Schools NSW and Catholic Schools NSW.

By entering the RSL and Schools Art Competition 2024, entrants accept these terms and conditions as stated.

Copyright

The artwork submitted must be the original work of the student themselves and not infringe the copyright, moral rights or other rights of any third party. Artworks that are deemed to not belong to or be created by the student will NOT be eligible.

Licensing of artwork

Participants of the competition (including winners and finalists) grant the Parties non-exclusive rights to reproduce their artwork in material form, to photograph, publish and/or communicate it to the public for competition-related purposes, and anything incidental to such purposes, by the Parties: marketing, publicity, educational and publication uses, the competition and its exhibition in all media, including but not limited to electronic/digital, broadcasting and print media, in perpetuity. Permission to so reproduce the work must be conveyed by the student to any party outside the Parties. Where reasonable, the Parties will attribute the student as the author of the work and reproduce the work in full. Details of the work may be used at the Parties’ discretion. Entrants (including winners and finalists) will not be entitled to any fee for such use.

Privacy

RSL NSW collects personal information for the purposes of registration and to keep schools informed about the contest. RSL NSW is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information which the organisation collects, holds and administers. RSL NSW will use all reasonable efforts to protect the privacy of individuals’ personal information and to comply with the obligations imposed by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APP).

RSL NSW will not share any personal data about entrants with any party excluding the Parties to the competition, without the consent of the parent, teacher or guardian.