Theme and competition explanation

Welcome to the 20th edition of the International NHV Hat Competition!

For the NHV Hat Competition 2025, we challenge you to bring together fantasy, bizarre beauty and surreal elements into one eye-catching headpiece. Inspired by the playful and eccentric spirit of the Mad Hatter, we invite you to design a hat as unpredictable as a tea party in Wonderland.

The challenge is for each participant to incorporate at least one unconventional material visibly into the hat/head piece that contributes to the playful, imaginative nature of the design. By unconventional material is meant: different from the ordinary and different from what you would expect. So look for material outside your studio! The extraordinary material should play the main role in your design, but may of course be supported with material we are familiar with from the millinery world. Of course, you may also use several unexpected materials. The weirder and more unexpected, the better! This theme is all about creativity and daring - designing hats that surprise, entertain, and defy the rules of traditional millinery.

However, remember that your creation must be wearable, so don't make it too heavy.

We challenge you to think outside the rules and create a hat that would be perfect for a frenzied and playful tea party, where each hat tells its own story and stimulates the audience's imagination!

Competition conditions

Under the heading competition conditions, you will find all the information about the NHV Hat Competition 2024. Read these terms and conditions carefully: this way you’ll be sure that you have a chance to place among the top ten or even the winning three designs!

Participation

Everyone is welcome to enter this competition, whether you are a hobbyist, a professional, advanced or a novice milliner, living within the Netherlands or abroad.  An annually-changing professional jury will nominate ten hats from all the entries on the basis of originality, quality and millinery craftmanship. From these ten, the three winning designs will be chosen.

As always, only fifty places are available to enter.

The deadline to enter the competition is January 31st, 2025. Participating designs must have arrived at the submission address no later than March 28th, 2025.

Hat show and exhibition

The Hat Show will take place at Kasteeltuinen Arcen (Limburg) on May 10th, 2025. The winners will be announced after the hat show. Afterwards, the competition hats will be exhibited for a duration of three weeks after the competition day in Arcen where visitors can cast their vote for the audience award.

Costs

The participation fee is € 60,- for NHV members and € 75,- for non-members. Participants will have free access to the opening show in May 2025 and will receive a photo booklet featuring all submitted designs after the show. Sign in!

Jury

We would like to announce the jury members later.

Prizes

The prices will follow later.

Submission of Entries

For all participants, your competition hat must be received at the submission address no later than March 30th, 2025. The delivery address will be sent to you after registration.     

Please weigh your parcel and measure its dimensions before shipping. We need this information to calculate the return shipping costs of your hat. Shipping will take place after receipt of these shipping costs.

We ask you to submit photos of and information about your competition hat twice; (1) printed on A4 paper in your mail package and (2) digitally, using this form.

Information on what we ask you to provide can be read here: competition conditions.

Questions?

Do you have any questions? Send an e-mail to wedstrijd@nederlandsehoedenvereniging.nl.

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