The PleinAir Salon $50,000 Art Competition is an online competition consisting of 12 monthly cycles of competitions and one annual competition. We award $50,000 in ALL Cash prizes each year. The Annual Grand Prize winner receives a check for $15,000 and is featured on the cover of PleinAir Magazine. We award an additional $9,200 to the annual winners and award $2,150 in each of the monthly competitions. Each of the 23 monthly winners will be automatically entered into the Annual Competition. The annual awards are presented live at the Plein Air Convention & Expo each spring.

Because this competition is created by PleinAir magazine, which features not only plein air paintings, but also studio paintings, all types of paintings are eligible and do not need to have been completed in plein air. As we know, many studio paintings start with plein air sketches, and many plein air painters paint figures and still life. Our interest is in rewarding great paintings.