Long Island's Best 2026

Long Island's Best 2026 is a student art exhibition at the Heckscher Museum of Art running March 29 – May 3, 2026. Students in grades 9-12 enrolled at participating schools in Nassau or Suffolk County, New York are eligible to submit. Schools must complete a School Registration Form and pay an $85 registration fee by October 24, 2025 to participate, which earns four artwork entries. Additional entries may be earned by scheduling programs with the museum.

Students may submit one work of art in the following media: painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, photography, computer graphics, sculpture, mixed media, fashion, or video. Only artworks created during the 2025-2026 school year will be considered. Collaborative pieces by multiple students are welcome and count as one entry. Each submission must include an artist statement (75-250 words) explaining the work and how it was inspired by a selected artwork from one of three museum collections: "All of Me With All of You: LGBTQ+ Art Out of the Collection," "Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History," or "Women Sculptors in the Collection." Students may select up to two inspiration artworks.

Size requirements: 2-D artwork maximum 48" height and 30" width (including frame); 3-D and 3-D relief artwork maximum 60" height, 24" width, and 24" depth. Submissions require high-resolution JPEG images (at least 1920 pixels on longest edge, maximum 30 MB). 2-D work requires one image; 3-D work requires two images (full view and detail); video work requires a video file and still image. Artwork accepted into the exhibition must be hand-delivered March 2-3, 2026, 2-5 pm, ready to display with appropriate framing and hardware. All artwork must have a completed Artwork Label/Photo Release Form attached.

All exhibiting artists and their teachers, friends, and family are invited to a preview day on Saturday, March 28, 12-4 pm, where certificates of exhibition will be distributed. An Awards Ceremony follows at 5-6:30 pm. Numerous awards will be given, with top four prize winners receiving indoor banners for their schools. Visitors Choice Awards will also be determined during the exhibition run. Select audio and video submissions from exhibiting students may be featured in the Museum's Digital Guide in Bloomberg Connects.