Your artwork on a William Chris bottle
Every year since 2010, one artist’s original work has carried the Artist Blend label. Submissions for the 2026 competition are open from Thursday, August 27 through Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 11:59 PM CDT.
How to enter
- Submit your entry form. Everything happens on one online form — your details, a photo of your artwork, and your acknowledgement of the terms. Each piece is submitted separately; up to three per artist.
- Photos only at this stage. Do not ship or deliver original artwork. A clear, well-lit photograph is all we need to consider your piece.
- Finalists selected. After entries close on October 25, a panel of judges from the William Chris team selects 10–15 finalists, notified during the first week of November.
- People’s choice vote. Finalist work is displayed as high-quality posters at our November Hye Society release parties — Sunday, November 15 and Sunday, November 22 — where members vote. The winner is notified before the end of the year, with a public reveal to follow in 2027.
Official guidelines
- Entry window: August 27 – October 25, 2026, closing at 11:59 PM CDT.
- Original work only. No copies or prints of your original piece.
- Made by hand. We are not accepting AI-generated or digital artwork. All submissions must be created by hand using traditional or physical media — painting, illustration, mixed media, or similar. We display the winning artwork in our Estate room in the Artist Blend Gallery.
- Any size, square favored. The winning work goes on a wine bottle and on display at the winery, so compositions closer to a square or slightly vertical adapt best.
- Up to three submissions per artist, each entered separately.
- Rights: the winner must sign over all rights to the winning submission, and the artwork becomes the property of William Chris Vineyards to promote and package the Artist Blend.
The grand prize
The winning piece becomes the face of a wine that has carried a new artist’s work every year since 2010. Here’s what comes with it:
- Your artwork and your name on the label of the 2025 vintage Artist Blend from William Chris Vineyards. The wine goes home with thousands of our wine club members.
- A permanent place in our tasting room. Your original hangs in the Artist Blend Gallery alongside the work of past winners, where it can be seen by the 60,000 guests who visit us each year.
- Your debut at the April Club Release. Three days of release parties on the lawn in Hye, where the new vintage and its artist are introduced to around 2,000 club members. You’re invited to sell prints and other work at the release.
- A feature in our emails and on social media. We profile the winning artist for our full audience when the new vintage is released.
- A case of the Artist Blend with your label on it, valued at over $600.
- An industry discount on William Chris wines for one year.
About the Artist Blend series
It started in 2010, when Mary Ruth Blackmon, an art teacher and the mother of co-founder Bill Blackmon, designed the label for the very first Artist Blend. Every vintage since has carried the work of a different artist, and the competition carries on her legacy. What began close to home now draws hundreds of entries from across Texas and beyond. Last year’s call brought in more than 400 submissions.
The 2024 vintage wears Desert Daydreamer by Renée D’Arienzo, chosen by Hye Society members at the November release parties and unveiled at the April Club Release.
The series is known for the art on the bottle and the wine inside it. The 2023 vintage (44% Mourvèdre, 32% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 3% Tannat) was awarded 94 points by Decanter.
A note to artists
We know how label competitions can come across, so we’ll say it plainly. William Chris produces more than a hundred labels and SKUs every year, designed in house by our own graphic designers. This competition isn’t a way to get label art for free at an artist’s expense.
The Artist Blend is one wine out of that lineup that we hand over each year to an artist outside our walls, so their work can reach our members and guests. It’s been that way since Mary Ruth’s first label in 2010. We’re a company that celebrates artists, and this is one of the ways we show it.
Terms and conditions
Original artwork is not needed at the release parties where voting takes place. William Chris produces high-quality posters of the finalists for display and voting at the November release parties. The only original artwork needed on site is the winner’s.
The winner’s artwork becomes the property of William Chris Vineyards. The winner must sign over all rights to the winning submission, and the artwork will be used to promote and package the 2025 vintage of our Artist Blend.
By submitting the entry form, you acknowledge that you have read and accept these terms and conditions. Questions: info@williamchriswines.com.