$75

through September 17

$125

through October 25

PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES

• Do not list your name, company name, logo or other identifying information in your description or photo.

• Use a high-quality image with a plain background and good lighting. Details of the piece should be clearly visible. For guidance on shooting and lighting, consider checking out these tips from professional jewelry photographer Jim Lawson and the Rio Grande Photo Studio team.

• Only one photograph or rendering may be entered per registration. To show different angles or design elements of the piece, multiple photo images can be compiled into one 300-dpi JPEG or one-page PDF file no larger than 10 megabytes (MB).

• Photograph must show all pieces submitted for judging within a single category. 

• Pieces should be photographed alone. We recommend that you do not use props, add extra design elements or showcase on a model.

RENDERINGS

• Renderings should be clean and details easy to interpret as a finished piece.

• Do not add a personal name, watermark or other identifying information to the rendering.

INFORMATION AND DESCRIPTION

Each submission must include the following information:

• Name of piece. Please note that this is how your title will appear in all publications and communications.

• Number and type(s) of jewelry pieces.

• Materials used, including:

  • Metal(s) type, karat.

  • Stone(s) type, size/carat weight, shape.

  • Other material(s).

  • Bead(s) quantity, type, size.

• Description in English, limited to 800 characters (including spaces and punctuation) or less, including:

  • Concept/design development.

  • Techniques used.

  • Steps taken to complete the piece (cast, fabricated, forged, assembled, etc.).

  • Inspiration behind the piece.

PLEASE NOTE: Photos or illustrations cannot be accepted as part of the description. The entrant's personal name or other identifying information cannot be included in the title or description.

• Jewelry Collection Fashion/Bridge

• Jewelry Collection Couture/Fine

• Gold/Platinum

• Silver/Argentium®

• Enamel

• Alternative Metals/Materials

• Hollowware/Art Objects

• Emerging Jewelry Artist 18 Years Of Age Or Younger

• Emerging Jewelry Artist 22 Years Of Age Or Younger

SUBMISSIONS MUST

• Include one high-resolution photograph or rendering: 300-dpi JPEG or one-page PDF; 10-megabyte (MB) maximum.

• Include the name and description of the piece (limited to 800 characters which includes spaces and punctuation) in English.

• Not include a personal name, company name, or other identifying information in the description of your piece.

• Include payment for each entry registration fee.

FINAL DESIGNS MUST

• Consist of one item or one related set of items per entry.

• Be composed predominantly of the material specified in the chosen category.

• Be the artist's original design.

• Not have won an award in any other competition prior to Oct. 25, 2018.

• Not contain any material from animals that are considered endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service including—but not limited to—ivory and fossilized ivory.

ENTRIES WILL BE JUDGED ON

• Innovation and originality.

• Successful incorporation of materials.

• Wearability (except for hollowware entries).

• Quality of workmanship.

JULY 20, 2018

Registration opens for all entries.

OCTOBER 25, 2018

Registration closes for all entries (entry must be submitted to Rio Grande by midnight MST).

NOVEMBER 2018

First round of judging is held.

NOVEMBER 2018

The five finalists and all non-finalists in each category are notified.

JANUARY 25, 2019

Finished finalist pieces must be received by Rio for all categories.

FEBRUARY 2019

Final round of judging is held for all categories.

FEBRUARY 2019

Winners are notified.

APRIL 2019

All non-finalist pieces will be returned by the end of the month.

MAY 19, 2019

The Saul Bell Design Award ceremony honoring winners and finalists takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

JUNE 2019

All winning pieces will be returned by the end of the month.

BEST OF SHOW, FIRST PLACE AND SECOND PLACE WINNERS RECEIVE:

• Promotion of winning pieces through a variety of media and industry events.

• Rio Grande gift certificates in the amounts of $3,000 (Best of Show), $2,000 (first place) OR $1,000 (second place).

• Free travel and lodging for the awards celebration in Albuquerque, NM. The celebration will be held on the evening of Sunday, May 20, 2019, at Hotel Albuquerque. (Winners are encouraged to bring a guest to the awards celebration, though guests will have to pay their own travel and lodging expenses.)

• Free registration, travel and lodging for the Santa Fe Symposium, held May 20–23, 2019, in Albuquerque, NM. The Symposium is the industry's leading conference on jewelry technology, as well as an invaluable opportunity to learn about your craft and network with fellow jewelers. Visit www.santafesymposium.org to learn more.

• One Saul Bell Design Award trophy. 

• One Saul Bell Design Award Finalists book—a bound, full-color collection of all the finalist designs.

• One free registration to any future jewelry-making class offered by Rio Grande during the 12 months following the awards ceremony.

• High-quality images of the winning piece(s).

SAUL BELL DESIGN EMERGING JEWELRY ARTIST WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY RECEIVE:

• First place: $500 Rio Grande gift certificate and a matching gift certificate for the winner's instructor or school in each category.

• Second place: $250 Rio Grande gift certificate and a matching gift certificate for the winner's instructor or school in each category.

• An invitation to attend the Saul Bell Design Award celebration dinner held on the evening of Sunday, May 20, 2019 at Hotel Albuquerque, NM.

• One framed certificate announcing the designer's status as a Saul Bell Design Award Emerging Jewelry Artist winner.

• One Saul Bell Design Award Finalists book—a bound, full-color collection of all the finalist designs.

• One free registration to any future jewelry-making class offered by Rio Grande during the 12 months following the awards ceremony. If the Emerging Jewelry Artist is a student, their instructor will also receive a free registration to a future jewelry-making class at Rio Grande.

• High-quality images of the winning piece(s).

ALL FINALISTS RECEIVE:

• An invitation to attend the Saul Bell Design Award celebration dinner held on the evening of Sunday, May 20, 2019, at Hotel Albuquerque in Albuquerque, NM.

• One framed certificate announcing the designer's status as a Saul Bell Design Award or Saul Bell Design Emerging Jewelry Artist finalist.

• One Saul Bell Design Award Finalists book—a bound, full-color collection of all the finalist designs.

• One free registration to any future jewelry-making class offered by Rio Grande during the 12 months following the awards ceremony.

• High-quality images of the finalist piece(s).

• The piece must be the entrant's original design. Artistic integrity is of the utmost importance to Rio Grande, the Saul Bell Design Award and the jewelers both institutions serve. As a SBDA entrant, your commitment to artistic integrity shows respect for your own work and for the work of other jewelers. Entrants are proud of the tremendous skill and imagination that they have put into their original designs, and they are honored to have these pieces rigorously judged against the work of their peers. Work that derives or copies its central ideas from another artist's work is not considered an "original design" and has no place in the Saul Bell Design Award.

• The piece (or any pieces within a collection) cannot have won an award in any other competition prior to the October 25, 2018, entry deadline. Artists may enter their design in other competitions, but they must alert Saul Bell Design Award organizers if the design wins an award prior to the date of our first judging in November 2018. In that event, the design will be removed from this competition and the entry fee refunded (whether it be an individual piece, or a piece or pieces within the Collection category). Award-winning pieces included in a Collection category must be substituted and/or removed.

• Entries in the Jewelry Collection categories should consist of more than one piece of wearable jewelry that work together as a cohesive collection. We suggest (but do not require) that three to seven pieces constitute a collection. Note that a pair of earrings counts as one piece of jewelry.

• Final design entry must be one piece or a set (wearable together) of jewelry or ornamentation (tiara, hairpiece, cane, etc.), unless the piece is entered in the Hollowware/Art Objects category. Entries in in the Hollowware/Art Objects category need not be wearable jewelry. 

• Designs must be predominantly composed of the material specified in a chosen category.

• Only one photograph or one-page rendering may be entered per registration. The photo or rendering may show multiple views in one 300-dpi JPEG or one-page PDF file no larger than 10 megabytes (MB). Image file names must be void of special characters, such as apostrophes.

• The description is limited to 800 characters (including spaces and punctuation) with no additional photos or sketches, names of artists, artist's company name or other identifying information. Entries must be written in English.

• Registrations must be completed and submitted online by midnight Mountain Time on October 25, 2018. Paper submissions are not accepted, and entries cannot be submitted via mobile device.
  

• The registration fee may be paid by credit card or PayPal. A confirmation email will be sent upon completion of the registration.
  

• Decision of the judges is final.

• Each artist is allowed only one finalist piece per category. Although the same piece may be entered in more than one competition category (as appropriate), the piece can become a finalist in only one category.

• Rio Grande cannot accept entries from the following countries: Balkans, Belarus, Bosnia, Burma (Myanmar), Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Crimea, Croatia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Herzegovina, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Montenegro, North Korea, Serbia, Slovenia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
  

• Rio Grande takes the highest amount of care and every reasonable precaution to ensure the safety and security of jewelry or hollowware pieces submitted for judging. While in Rio Grande's possession and during any handling or transit by Rio Grande, our insurance provider will cover each entry against the event of loss, theft or damage to the full declared wholesale value stated by each entrant. If an insurance claim is filed, the entrant will be required to support their wholesale valuation to the insurer. Because Rio Grande's insurance does not cover any loss or damage while in transit to Rio Grande, shipping of pieces to Rio Grande is the responsibility of the entrant. We strongly encourage entrants to insure their piece(s) when sending to Rio Grande.

• Entrants must agree to consign entries to Rio Grande for the purpose of photography, display and promotions.

• Due to US tax guidelines, awards cannot be distributed without a valid tax identification number provided by award recipient.

• Rio Grande, Inc., its directors, its associates, its advertising and publicity agency, and its members shall be held harmless from any and all claims, litigation or other legal proceeding.

• Employees of Rio Grande or of any affiliate company and their immediate family members may not participate.