A Magazine Rejection... just for me

"Dear Southern Artist,

I am sorry to say these slides must be returned to you at this time, for it means that our juror, Mr. Smith, Director of the Such N’ Such Art Gallery at the University at Springfield, did not select them for this year’s southern edition. Only 40 artists could be selected from among the hundreds who competed in the eleventh Open Studios Southern States Competition.

Over the years, our competitions have become increasingly competitive. We do hope that you will compete again next year. Numerous artists we have published have submitted more than once before being selected.

If you would like a copy of the magazine in which this competition’s winners will appear, you can order a copy directly from us at a 40% discount. Mail this letter with your name and address printed below, and a check (or your credit card information) for $15. We will ship you a book when it comes off the press in June.

Thank you for competing. The deadline for next year’s southern entries will be December 31, 2006.

Sincerely,

Jessica Smith
Managing Editor"

Well... I tried. I suppose if as many as 500 artists applied for the book (I'd be kind of surprised if they had that many entries), and only 40 got in that I only had an 8% chance of being selected. To be fair, my chances were probably better than that given how many entries were likely unusable due to poor slides, incomplete entries, and other criteria not followed correctly (oh how often that happens). We shall see. I suppose I didn't realize there would only be one juror! That's quite a big job for one person.