Previous Prizes & Competitions Rating System (pre May 2015)

Arts Law used this star-rating system to review competitions with deadlines before May 2015. The star rating system has been updated.

Arts Law maintains an ongoing watch over contractual obligations and terms and conditions of prizes and competitions for artists in Australia and internationally.  Arts Law often contacts the sponsors of these prizes and competitions urging them to amend their terms and conditions to be fairer to entrants, especially where copyright and moral rights are affected.

Arts Law’s  prizes & competitions star-rating system applied to prizes and competitionts with deadlines before May 2015:

• 5 stars: copyright remains the property of the entrant; finalists/winners only grant a licence for a limited time for limited purposes; there is a positive undertaking to attribute the entrant for their work.
• 4 stars: copyright remains the property of the entrant; all entrants grant a licence for a limited time (5 years or less) for limited purposes; no agreement by entrants to infringement of their moral rights (“moral rights waiver”).
• 3 stars: copyright remains the property of the entrant; all entrants grant a worldwide licence for an extended period of time for limited purposes; there is no waiver or limited waiver of moral rights.
• 2 stars: copyright remains the property of the entrant; all entrants grant a non-exclusive, worldwide licence for an extended period of time for unlimited purposes; moral rights waiver.
• 1 star: all entrants grant an assignment of copyright or an exclusive, worldwide licence for an extended period of time for unlimited purposes; moral rights waiver.
• No stars: unable to locate / must enter to receive competition terms

If a Prize or Competition would like Arts Law to review its terms using the updated rating system for fairness to artists and provide best practice advice concerning amendments to those terms, please email [email protected].