Keeping an eye on prizes and competitions for artists!
Arts Law maintains an ongoing watch of terms and conditions in prizes and competitions for artists in Australia and overseas and gives those terms and conditions a rating out of 5 stars. Click here for more about our star rating system.
Entrants should always weigh up Arts Law’s ratings against the prize and possible profile-raising which may result from being a finalist or winner.
Latest News
This month, Arts Law has reviewed the terms and conditions of the Cossack Art Awards 2022 in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. Read the terms and conditions of this competition here. The deadline for this competition is 7 June 2022. What is the rating? Arts Law has awarded the competition 3 stars out of 5. … Continued
This month, Arts Law has reviewed the terms and conditions of the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize 2022 in New South Wales. Read the terms and conditions of this competition here. The deadline for this competition is 2 August 2022. What is the rating? Arts Law has awarded the competition 3.5 stars out of 5. Read on … Continued
This month, Arts Law has reviewed the terms and conditions of the Best Australia Yarn 2022 (the Competition) in Western Australia. Read the terms and conditions (T&Cs) of this Competition here. The deadline for this Competition is 31 May 2022. What is the rating? Arts Law has awarded the Competition 4 stars out of 5. … Continued
This month, Arts Law reviewed the terms and conditions of the Very Short Film Festival (VSFF). Arts Law reached out to Artology, the organiser of the festival, to make this competition’s terms and conditions even more artist friendly. We were delighted that the organisers of the Festival took on board some of our suggestions. The deadline … Continued
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, artists of all stripes have lost income and opportunities to share their work with the public. For many artists, this has led them to enter prizes and competitions, many of which have continued in an altered form during the pandemic in Australia. The Archibald Prize, for example, saw … Continued
About Arts Law regularly reviews the terms and conditions of competitions and rates them out of five stars. Our review looks broadly at the terms and conditions of a competition. In particular, we look closely at how a competition deals with an entrant’s copyright and moral rights and consider this in light of the prize. Entrants should always consider the possible profile-raising which may result from being … Continued
Arts Law regularly reviews the terms and conditions of competitions and rates them out of five stars. Our review looks broadly at the terms and conditions of a competition. In particular, we look closely at how a competition deals with an entrant’s copyright and moral rights, and consider this in light of the prize. Entrants … Continued
About Arts Law regularly reviews the terms and conditions of competitions and rates them out of five stars. Our review looks broadly at the terms and conditions of a competition. In particular, we look closely at how a competition deals with an entrant’s copyright and moral rights, and consider this in light of the prize. Entrants should always take into account the possible profile-raising which may result from being … Continued
Arts Law regularly reviews the terms and conditions of competitions and rates them out of five stars. Our review looks broadly at the terms and conditions of a competition. In particular, we look closely at how a competition deals with an entrant’s copyright and moral rights, and consider this in light of the prize. Entrants … Continued
Arts Law is pleased to share the recent launch by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) of the WIPO Photography Prize for Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Youth 2021-2022. Arts Law was thrilled when WIPO invited us to participate as a member of its Advisory Board and to help draft the Rules of this Prize. … Continued
See All
Arts Law considers all terms and conditions and also the value of the prize in reviewing a competition. An example of how Arts Law’s 5 star rating system might be applied to a competition where the only terms giving rise to concern are those dealing with copyright and moral rights is as follows:
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 unlimited 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 unlimited period of time for unlimited purposes; moral rights waiver.
1 star: copyright remains the property of all entrants except for finalists who must grant an assignment of copyright or grant an exclusive, worldwide licence for an extended period of time for unlimited purposes; moral rights waiver.
No stars: all entrants grant an assignment of copyright or an exclusive, worldwide licence for an unlimited period of time for unlimited purposes; moral rights waiver.
Unrateable: unable to locate / must enter to receive competition terms
However, a star rating may be higher or lower depending on the other terms and conditions.
If a prize or competition would like Arts Law to review its terms for fairness to artists and provide best practice advice concerning amendments to those terms, please email [email protected] or call 02 9356 2566.
Please note: Arts Law amended the rating system in May 2015. The rating system above applies to prizes and competitions rated by Arts Law with deadlines from May 2015 and onwards. Competitions with deadlines before May 2015 were reviewed using our previous rating system.