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Young Sculptors Competition

2025 Miami University Young Sculptors Competition for the $10,000 William and Dorothy Yeck Award

Entry Prospectus

Year 2025: focus on - Representational Realism Sculpture

Submission Deadline: Wednesday, June 16, 2025

The Competition

Year 2025: Representational Realism Sculptures only

Young Sculptors, U.S. residents, ages 25 – 35 as of competition entry are invited to participate in a biennial juried competition for the 2023 $10, 000 William and Dorothy Yeck Award. Entrants should have achieved a significant degree of success as an emerging artist of noteworthy talent. The winner will become part of the Miami University Yeck Collection of 21 st Century Painting and Sculpture.

Juror

2025: Sohrab Mohebbi

Sohrab Mohebbi was appointed Director of SculptureCenter in 2022. He served as the Kathe and Jim Patrinos Curator of the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, 2022-23. Mohebbi has also served as SculptureCenter’s Curator-at-Large (2020-21) and as Curator between 2018 and 2020. Before joining SculptureCenter in 2018, he was associate curator at REDCAT in Los Angeles and curatorial fellow at the Queens Museum. He is an advisor at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and has organized exhibitions and programs for the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, California; SALT, Istanbul; and the Center for Historical Reenactments, Johannesburg, South Africa. He received an M.A. from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and a BFA in photography from Tehran Art University. Mohebbi has organized solo exhibitions by Édgar Calel, Banu Cennetoğlu, Fiona Connor, Rafael Domenech, Tishan Hsu, Rindon Johnson, Hassan Khan, John Knight, Diane Severin Nguyen, and Falke Pisano, among others. His group exhibitions include Searching the Sky for Rain (2019), It is obvious from the map (2017; co-curated by Thomas Keenan), and Hotel Theory (2015; with Ruth Estévez), which received The Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award in 2013. In 2012, he was the recipient of a grant from the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Program for his blog presencedocuments.

Competition Awards

$10,000 William and Dorothy Yeck Purchase Award
$2,500 Second Place
$2,000 Third Place

Your Entry

Your entry packet is to consist of the following:

  1. Entry Form and Artist Contract: submit via Google Form. Incomplete or late entries will be rejected.
  2. Submission of Sculptures: up to 3 entries; Artworks, not less than 12”; not to exceed 60” in any dimension. May contain multiple/modular components. Artwork should be completed within the past three years that demonstrates the scope and depth of your work. MATERIALS: Permanent. Bronze, stone, ceramics, glass, aluminum, steel, wood, mixed, etc. Time-based works must include a projector and/or monitor for exhibition.
    • No works to exceed 200 pounds.
    • Works submitted must be available for the exhibition and purchase award and cannot be a part of a public or private collection. (Exhibition dates: September 6– October 6, 2025.) All images submitted should be JPG, 5 x 7 inches (approx.), 355 dpi, RGB color mode.
    • A Word document, titled, Image List, should be included with your entry, with the following information per image entry: Artist name, Title of work, Year of work, Media, Dimensions in inches, and an image of the artwork. Also include a 1 -2 page CV.
  3. Entry Fee: $25.00
    Payable online

Deadline for receipt of entry materials: Monday, June 16, 2025, 11:59 p.m.

Summary of materials needed checklist

Complete online:

Submit the following via email: taulbeae@MiamiOH.edu

  • 1-2 page CV

Notification

The 10 Finalists will be chosen by our 2025 Juror in early/mid-July 2025. Images of the finalists' works will be retained by Miami University. Artworks of finalists to arrive the week of August 18, 2025. The $10,000 Yeck Purchase Award winner may be invited to visit the University to coincide with the 2027 competition. Participation in the exhibition entry process and signing the entry form, constitutes an understanding and acceptance of the conditions set forth herein, including the right of Miami University to use submitted images for publicity and educational purposes.

Shipping

All finalists will assume the cost of shipment of artworks to Miami University. Works must be packed in reusable crates/boxes and constructed to withstand the rigors of commercial shipping. Finalists are responsible for the repair of damaged crates before the works are returned. Works may also be hand-delivered. Hand-delivered artworks must also be picked up from Miami University. Works will be fully insured while on the premises of Miami University. Miami University will assume the cost of return shipping of the finalists' sculptures.

Questions

Contact: Ann Taulbee, Director
Email: taulbeae@MiamiOH.edu
Web: Hiestand Galleries
Phone: 513-529-1883 | Fax: 513-529-1532