9 July

July competitions reviewed by Arts Law

Arts Law Reviews the Terms of Competitions Closing in July 2014

Arts Law has reviewed and rated the terms and conditions of 16 competitions closing in July 2014. These ratings are based on a review of the legal terms and focus on the uses that a competition organiser wishes to make of an entrant’s work. Read more about the rating system here.

11 competitions received a respectable 3 / 5 stars for fairness to artists. Under these terms and conditions, all entrants are asked to provide a licence to the competition organisers to reproduce their works for purposes associated with the prize. None of the competitions set a limit to the duration of the licences requested from the entrants. If these competitions had done so, and respectively limited their licences to finalists or winners, plus each undertook to attribute the artists where the work is reproduced, they would have all received 5 / 5 stars.

NOT FAR OFF:

  • 39th Katherine Prize 2014 – deadline 1 July 2013
  • Sculpture in the Vineyards 2014 – deadline 4 July 2014
  • Mosman Art Prize 2014 – deadline 14 July 2014
  • The International Art Contest 2014 – deadline 14 July 2014
  • Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery Art Prize 2014 – deadline 16 July 2014
  • Black Swan Prize for Portraiture – deadline 18 July 2014
  • Queensland Regional Art Awards 2014 – deadline 21 July 2013
  • Ron Rathbone Local History Prize – deadline 25 July 2014
  • Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2014 – deadline 31 July 2014
  • Craft NSW Emerging Artist Craft Award 2014 – deadline 31 July 2014

4 competitions scored 2 / 5 stars. Thesecompetitions ask that all entrants grant to the competition organisers a licence to reproduce the entries for broad purposes beyond the scope of promotion for the competition.  Best practice would be for these licences to be limited to finalists/exhibitors only, limit the use to only being related to the promotion of the competition, limit the duration and create a positive intention to attribute the artists.

SOME WORK TO DO:

  • Pirtek Southern Highlands Still Life Prize 2014 – deadline 9 July 2014
  • Bentley Art Prize – deadline 23 July 2014
  • Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2014 – deadline 25 July 2014
  • Focus on Ability Short Film Competition – deadline 31 July

Arts Law was unable to rate the terms and conditions of 2 competitions. The Beams Art Festival requires entrants to submit a proposal first however, the terms for those successful entrants are not disclosed until a later date. Arts Law believe that artists should know what they may have to agree to in advance before they spend time on creating a submission. The Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize terms and conditions do not specifically mention the licensing of copyright or the protection of moral rights for winners. Either the competition organisers do not intend to reproduce the entries or they haven’t considered the permission they need from entrants to reproduce the work.

MORE INFORMATION NEEDED:

  • Beams Art Festival 2013 – deadline 14 July 2013  
  • Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize 2014 – deadline 31 July 2014

Further information

Please email us at [email protected] to tell us about any competitions or prizes you think we should check. 

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 Competitionssection.