25 June

July 2013 Competitions Checked

Arts Law has checked the terms and conditions of 22 competitions closing in July 2013 and rated them out of 5 stars for fairness to artists.

WAM Song of the Year Competition and Melbourne Prize for Music both received a positive 4 / 5 stars for fairness.  Both competitions only ask finalists or winners for a licence to reproduce their musical works for really limited purposes associated with the promotion and publicity of the competitions.  A clear limitation of the duration of the licences would have pushed them both up to a perfect score:

  • Melbourne Prize for Music 2013 – deadline 16 July 2013
  • WAM Song of the Year Competition – deadline 22 July 2013

10 competitions received a respectable 3 / 5 stars.  Under these terms, all entrants are asked to provide a licence to the competition organisers to reproduce their works for limited purposes associated with the competition only OR only artists chosen to exhibit their works provide a licence but that licence is a little broader in the uses it covers.  None of the competitions set a limit to the duration of the licences requested by entrants.  If these competitions had limited their licences to finalists or winners, limited the duration of the licence and undertook to attribute the artists, they would have received 5 / 5 stars:

  • Derwent Art Prize – deadline 1 July 2013
  • Mosman Art Prize – deadline 1 July 2013
  • The Coal & Allied Singleton Art Prize – deadline 3 July 2013
  • Matthew Flinders Art Show – deadline 8 July 2013
  • Bowness Photography Prize – deadline 10 July 2013
  • Black Swan Prize for Portraiture – deadline 12 July 2013
  • Sculpture in the Vineyards – deadline 15 July 2013
  • City of Albany Art Prize – deadline 15 July 2013
  • Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery Art Prize 2013 – deadline 17 July 2013
  • Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2013 – deadline 31 July 2013

8 competitions 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:

  • SKA Art Prize – deadline 5 July 2013
  • Kenilworth Art Prize – deadline 19 July 2013
  • Queensland Regional Art Awards – deadline 22 July 2013
  • Bently Art Prize – deadline 24 July 2013
  • Fleurieu Art Prize – deadline 26 July 2013
  • Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize – deadline 26 July 2013
  • Cancer Council Victoria Arts Awards 2013 – deadline 29 July 2013
  • Snowden Photo Competition 2013 – deadline 31 July 2013

2 competitions received 1 / 5 stars.  Both of these competitions request an exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual licence from all entrants for use of entries for very broad purposes that also includes a waiver of, at least, entrants' moral right of integrity.  Under this licence entrants cannot give a licence for use of their work to anyone else at all.  We feel that this kind of licence is disproportionate and overreaching, especially when it is granted by all entrants regardless of whether they win the competition or receive any prizes:

  • Snapped: Sightworthy Singleton Photography Competition – deadline 15 July 2013
  • Lumen Prize – deadline 31 July 2013
See Arts Law's competition star rating system for further information. – See more at: https://www.artslaw.com.au/advocacy/entry/additional-competitions-in-june-checked/#sthash.Gne2rjjL.dpuf

See Arts Law's competition star rating system for further information or call Arts Law if you would like to receive best practice advice regarding your competition terms and conditions.