Do Art Competition Jurors Get Paid?

Short answer: sometimes. Some art juries are paid a modest honorarium; many are voluntary. Which one you are looking at depends mostly on who runs the competition and who pays for it. Below is what organisations actually publish about paying jurors and panelists, and how the role works at Curatone.art.

Where jurors are paid

Art societies and juried members' shows

Societies that run annual juried exhibitions often pay their jurors. The Santa Rita Art League's procedure for its Annual Members Show (updated February 2024) invites jurors and judges to serve "for an honorarium (current amount is $200/person)" (Santa Rita Art League). Professional guidelines for juried exhibitions in the craft field, dated 2002 and 2010, recommend that "jurors should be paid an honorarium plus expenses", with honorariums ranging "from $100 to $500 a day" (Guidelines for juried exhibitions).

Public art selection panels

Cities commissioning public art often pay the community members and professionals who sit on artist selection panels. The City of Richmond, British Columbia, said in July 2025 that panelists "will receive an honorarium between $100 and $300" (City of Richmond). Cambridge Arts in Massachusetts announced in 2023 that "selection committee members will be paid a $300 honorarium" (Cambridge Arts).

Grant review panels

Grant panels are not competitions in the exhibition sense, but the work is close: experts assess artists' applications against criteria. Public funders commonly pay for it.

• The Nevada Arts Council states that "panelists receive an honorarium of $100-$250 per panel day".
• The California Arts Council announced in January 2024 that panelists who complete their service "will receive a $300 honorarium".
• The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs offers "up to $100 per panel meeting attended, plus up to $10 per grant application reviewed", up to a maximum of $600.
• South Arts pays "an honorarium based on the number of applications".
• Creative Scotland advertised in 2023 for external assessors at "£150 per assessment".
• The National Endowment for the Arts engages panelists as Special Government Employees and requires a U.S. bank account "in order to be paid"; it does not publish the amount on that page.

Where jurors volunteer

Youth, student and community competitions are commonly judged by volunteers. Creative Sonoma's 2020 call for judges for a youth art competition stated plainly: "This is a volunteer position" (Creative Sonoma). The Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts recruited "volunteers who are passionate about the arts" to judge the 2024 Hawaii Regional Scholastic Art Awards (SFCA).

Many online open calls also run with voluntary juries. And most major international prizes do not publish what, if anything, they pay their judges, so for them there is no figure to cite.

What the numbers add up to

Where a fee is published, it is modest: roughly $100 to $300 per day, meeting or selection process, or a small amount per application reviewed. Nobody judges for the money. People accept jury roles for the work itself, for the professional recognition of being asked, and for the contact with other professionals and with new work.

How it works at Curatone.art

Jury service at Curatone.art is voluntary. Jurors are not paid, and judging is free of charge: there is no fee to apply, to judge, or to appear among the jury in the published results.

Separately, and to be clear about it: Curatone.art offers optional, paid documentation and publication services — such as a certificate of jury service, an invitation letter, a judging report and an extended profile. They cover editorial and administrative work, are not required for jury service, and do not affect selection or scoring. The details are on the Become a Jury page.

Questions to ask before you accept a jury role

• Is the role paid or voluntary, and is that stated in writing?
• Is anything charged to the juror? If so, is it clearly optional and separate from judging?
• How many entries, what scoring method, and what deadline?
• Will the results be published permanently, with the jury named?

For what the job involves day to day, see What Does an Art Competition Juror Do?, and for the path to a first jury role, how to become an art competition juror. If you have the experience, you can apply to become a juror.