Artist of the Spring Juried Exhibition and Competition Official Rules & Guidelines

Official Rules

THIS IS NOT A GAME OF CHANCE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

1. Entry Period. 

Entries in the Artist of the Spring Juried Art Exhibition and Competition (the “Competition”) must be submitted between 12:01 a.m. CET on March 1, 2023, and 10:59 p.m. CET on May 31, 2023.  

2. Eligibility.

Entrants must be at least 18 years of age or older. Entries can be submitted by entrants of the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence. 

3. How to Enter.

Enter as often as you like. Entries must be submitted as JPG (or PNG) digital files online at https://upwardgallery.com during the Entry Period. Files must be less than 10 MB. Images must be between 800x800 and 2000x2000 pixels.

Entry fees are due after the works are accepted by the Sponsor's moderator. Your record of the credit card will be your receipt.

4. Additional Requirements for Entries.

The Competition is open to all artists working in all traditional art media (e.g., oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel, mixed media, gouache, egg tempera, pen and ink; drawing media such as graphite, charcoal, colored pencils, scratch board, markers, metal point), digital painting, arts and crafts (beadwork, pottery, embroidery, floristry, batik, stained glass, two-dimensional collage and fabric art as well, etc.).

All works must be original. “Original” means that the work must be from the hand of a single artist; pieces that originate from a workshop or a class under the direction of a teacher are eligible too. For works based on reference photographs, eligibility requires that the artist must have taken the photographs or have obtained written permission from the photographer to create the work and to enter it in the Competition. 

By entering, you represent and warrant that your entry is your original work, that your entry does not infringe the rights of any third party, and that you have all the rights necessary to submit the entry and to assign the rights in the entry.

Works deemed unsuitable for publication or that do not meet above criteria, in the sole discretion of Sponsor, are not eligible.

No profanity or political artwork.

5. Limited Grant of Rights.

By entering, you grant to Sponsor, its licensees and designees, the worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free right to use the entry on Sponsor’s websites and in ads promoting future competitions, without further permission, compensation, or notification.  You waive any right to inspect or approve the manner in which the entry is used in connection with these purposes, including without limitation editing, cropping, or overlaying the image with text. You further agree that Sponsor shall have the right, but not the obligation, to use your name and/or photograph for the same purposes.

6. Judging and Notification.

There will be three (3) Winners in total for each media and age category. Limit one (1) prize per entrant.  All eligible entries will be judged by jury members, using the following criteria:

  • Artistic technique
  • Handling of medium
  • Design and creative elements
  • Overall impression/impact

The works will be judged by the jury depending on the age category.

Ages categories are as follows:

  • Artists: Ages 22+
  • Artists: Ages 18-21.

Winners announcement: June 9, 2023 (on the Competition page at website https://upwardgallery.com). Winners will be notified within thirty (30) days of the close of the Entry Period, by email too.

7. Fees.

The amount of entry fees depends on the way in which you apply for the competition.

  • When registering on the UPWARD Gallery website

The entry fee for participation in the competition of one competitive work is 12 US dollars ($). 
For artists under 22 years of age, the entry fee is a fixed amount - 6 US dollars per entry. 

  • For artists 22 years and older:

When paying from 2 to 4 works, the entry fee for one work is 10 US dollars. For example, in an order for two works, the order amount will be $20.
When paying for 5 or more works, the entry fee for one work is 9 US dollars. For example, in an order for 5 works, the order amount will be $45.
Please note, the discount for the number of works is calculated in the process of placing one order. The number of works in the order is not summed up with previously placed and paid works in the competition.

  • For artists under 22 years of age:

The entry fee is 6 US dollars per entry, regardless of the number of entry with works in the order. For example, in an order for two works, the order amount will be $12; in an order for 5 works, the order amount will be $30.

Entry fees are non-refundable.

  • Without registering on the UPWARD Gallery website

Entry fees: $36 for 1-2 competitive works; $64 for 3-4 competitive works; $84 for 5-6 competitive works.

The price is fixed. That is, for example, if you place one or two entries, the payment amount will be $36 in any case. In the same way the amount of payment for the number of works from 3 to 6 is calculated.
Age discounts also do not apply to this way of submitting entries.

Entry fees are non-refundable.

8. Prizes and Awards. 

The winners (1st place) are interviewed by the UPWARD Gallery editors for publication in the quarterly printed edition UPWARD’s Quarterly and on the site in the section Interviews.

Certificates: all entrants will receive electronic certificates based on the results of the competition. The winners will receive electronic certificates for the 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place. Also, the most deserving works will be marked with electronic certificates Merit Awards, Honorable Mention Awards, and Finalist. Other entrants will receive electronic certificates for participation in the Competition. 

Selected works (1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and Merit Award) will be presented in the quarterly printed edition UPWARD’s Quarterly, as well as in the curated galleries on the site in the section Discover. The authors of these works will receive Social Media Promotion (Instagram).

The winners of the competition (1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place) will be able to take part for free with two artworks in our next competitions.

9. Odds.

Odds of winning depend on the number and quality of eligible entries. Sponsor cannot predict the number or quality of entries.

10. General Conditions.

Void where prohibited. Any entrant suspected of tampering with or disrupting any aspect of the Competition will be disqualified. All decisions of Sponsor are final. By your participation in the Competition, you (i) agree to be bound by these Official Rules, (ii) agree to release, indemnify, and hold Sponsor, their affiliates, parents, subsidiaries, and divisions, and all of their officers, directors, employees, and agents harmless from any and all claims, liabilities, losses, and damages of any kind arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from your participation in the Competition, from Sponsor’s use of your entry, or from your acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of any Prize, and (iii) agree that any dispute or claim will be resolved individually and without resort to class action.

11. Limitation of Liability.

SPONSOR MAKES NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE PRIZES. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT PERMIT LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES. CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS TO DETERMINE IF ANY OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Sponsor is not responsible for late, lost, misdirected, or unintelligible entries, including entries not received because of interrupted or unavailable network servers, failed communications networks or equipment, computer hardware or software, or other errors or malfunctions whether human, mechanical, or electronic. Should Sponsor, in its sole discretion, determine that the Competition has been compromised by virus, bugs, hackers, or other causes beyond its control, Sponsor reserves the right to terminate or revise the competition and choose the Winner in a fair and reasonable manner from among all eligible entries submitted prior to termination.

12. Privacy.

With the exception of the Winner’s alias, year of birth, city, and country, information collected by Sponsor solely in connection with the Competition will not be shared with third parties.

13. Sponsor.

The Sponsor of the Competition is UPWARD gallery.

Guidelines

  • When registering on the UPWARD Gallery website

1. You will need to create a free account on the UPWARD gallery (https://upwardgallery.com) credentials in order to submit an entry.

2. Entries can be sent from your Dashboard on the UPWARD gallery. To do this, you need to go to the My Artworks section, and then click on the Add entry link (https://upwardgallery.com/node/add/entry). Or simply click on the blue icon (+) located at the top right of each page of the site after you log in.

3. Fill out the Entry Form completely. This information will be reproduced in award certificates exactly as submitted. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required. 
Upload a single digital image.

4. Once you have submitted your entry you will be redirected on the page Entries (Cart) in the Dashboard. This page shows a list of entries waiting for moderation. Usually the moderation process takes up to 2 days. Without waiting for the result of moderation, you may submit another entry. Enter as often as you like.

5. When your works in the Entries (Cart) section are approved by the moderator (they will be marked with a green bar), the Checkout button will become available to you and you will be able to pay the entry fee. We accept payment via PayPal.
If during the process of adding competition entries, you find that the order amount in the Entries (Cart) does not reflect the quantity discount, just refresh the page Entries (Cart) in your browser. Please note, the discount for the number of works is calculated in the process of placing one order. The number of works in the order is not summed up with previously placed and paid works in the competition.

6. After summing up the results of the competition, you can download an digital certificate in PDF format in the section My Artworks (links near each work).

  • Without registering on the UPWARD Gallery website

To participate in the competition without registering on the site, applicants must send a form with information about the yourself and his or her works submitted for the competition. The number of artworks per entry is limited to 6. A form to fill out is available at: https://upwardgallery.com/submit-entry
The gallery moderators will look at the submitted works and will send a link to the applicant's email to pay the entry fee. After the gallery receives the entry fee payment, the artist's personal page on the website will be created within 1-2 working days, the approved works will be published, and after the jury summarizes the results of the exhibition or competition, digital certificates will be sent to the applicant's email.

If you experience any difficulties submitting an entry form please contact info@upwardgallery.com.