Arts Law checks terms of competitions closing in September 2013
Arts Law has checked the terms and conditions of 6 competitions closing in September 2013.
The Paddington Art Prize and the City of Whyalla Art Prize both received a positive 4 / 5 starsfor fairness. Both competitions only ask exhibitors or finalists for a licence to reproduce their works for really limited purposes associated with the promotion and publicity of the competitions. A clear limitation of the duration of the licences and a positive intention to attribute the artists would have pushed them both up to a perfect score:
- The Paddington Art Prize – deadline 2 September 2013
- City of Whyalla Art Prize – deadline 6 September 2013
The ACMF National Songwriting Competition received a respectable 3 / 5 stars. Under the competition terms, all entrants provide a licence to the competition organisers to reproduce their works for limited purposes associated with the competition only. However, the competition does not set a limit to the duration of the licence requested from entrants. If the competition had limited the licence to finalists or winners, limited the duration of the licence and undertook to attribute the artists, it would have received 5 / 5 stars:
- ACMF National Songwriting Competition – deadline 27 September 2013
The ANL Maritime Art Prize & Exhibition and Focus Environment 2013 received 2 / 5 stars for fairness. The terms of these competitions ask that all entrants grant to the competition organisers a licence to reproduce the entries for very broad purposes and with no limitation to duration of the licence. This means non-finalist/non-winning entrants cannot exclusively licence their work to any other party after they enter this competition. We suggest the competitions consider limiting the uses and duration of the licences they request, only ask finalists/winners to grant such a licence, and positively seek to enforce entrants' moral rights:
- ANL Maritime Art Prize & Exhibition – deadline 2 September 2013
- Focus Environment 2013 – deadline 2 September 2013
Arts Law was unable to rate the Albert Park College Art Show as its terms and conditions do not specifically mention the licensing of entrants copyright or moral rights. This suggests the competition does not want to reproduce entrants works for promotion of the art show or has not thought about the licence they will need from entrants to reproduce their work for this purpose. Arts Law encourages the competition organisers to clarify the competition terms.
- Albert Park College Art Show – deadline 20 September 2013
See Arts Law's competition star rating systemfor further information or call Arts Law if you would like to receive best practice advice regarding your competition terms and conditions.
See more about Arts Law's campaign to improve competition terms and conditions in the Prizes and Competitions section.