The Australian Artists Awards FAQ

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Typically Judges are chosen by the promoters. They may be Art academics, Artists with a reputation or any other person the promoters deem suitable.
The problem with having a small group of judges is that - no matter how reputable they may be - they all have their own artistic preferences and prejudices that conciously or unconciously will bias their judgements. That is human nature.
We believe that Peer Voting - where all the participating practising artists are the Judges - is intrinsically a better, more democratic system of judging. The individual likes and dislikes of hundreds of practicing artists will cancel out.
As has been shown many times in history, the definition of what constitutes "Good Art" has changed over time. Art Academics represent the views of their own period and of the artistic Bureaucracy of their time, and distinguished Artists have their own likes and dislikes. A large body of practising artists represents the art of their time, of Now.

There is nothing to be gained by artists voting for "poor work".
If they are inclined to do that, then they can expect that other people will do the same - and the "poor work" will win.
The only strategy that ensures Your work is looked at on it's own merits is to vote for The best.

Almost ALL competitions have a "Peoples Choice" section.
Why is that? Why do "The People" always choose different art to "The Judges"? What does that say about the state of Art today?
We often have no idea of the credentials of "The Judges"
What we DO know is that participating Artists are Practicing Artists, learning about art best-practice, deeply involved in becoming better artists. In our view the Artists themselves are the best Judges to have.

  • Only the participating Artists have a vote.
  • During the voting period each competitor MUST allocate 10 votes to other artworks in the competition. If you fail to give those 10 votes, your votes will not be counted. (10 votes means there is less chance for multiple winners)
  • You are unable to vote for yourself.
  • You see nothing but the artwork and it's title.
  • The artworks that receive the most votes, win.

  • Any genre, any style, no bigger than 1 x 1 Metre.
  • It must be an original 2D painting.
  • No Prints, No AI, no Computer generated or assisted.
  • The uploaded artwork image must NOT display a signature. Either do not sign it, or hide the signature.
  • If the actual painting is different from the online image voted on, it will be disqualified.
  • The complete set of rules are required to be read and accepted on the website.

Voting is on the basis of an uploaded image. The organisers must assure themselves that it is an accurate copy of the actual physical artwork.
If they do not match (except perhaps for a signature being visible), then the work will be disqualified and the Finalist list updated accordingly.

Note: Artworks deemed unacceptable for any reason will be disqualified.
See the full rules on the website.

No one can tell who voted for what artwork.
Before and During Voting, only the Artwork and it's title can be seen. Nothing else.
No signature will be visible on the artwork.
Note: Artworks deemed unacceptable for any reason will be disqualified.
See the full rules on the website.

For problems relating to Login or Registration contact Support.
You must:
  • Send the email using the address you used to Register
  • Provide the Name you used to Register, eg 'John Smith'
  • Provide the phone number you used to Register.
  • Provide your login username/nickname.
Tips: You need a mobile phone capable of receiving SMS
Your email address must be unique; only one person registering can use it.
If you forget your password, under the LOGIN button is a FORGOT PASSWORD option.
If you lost your username/nickname, you need to provide all the information above and it will be sent by SMS to the phone number given. If you do not provide all the information above, we will not SMS you. This is for security.

Tips: Photos need to be .jpg or .jpeg only.
They must be no larger than 5MB. Larger images will take longer to load, depending on your internet speed.
Photos of less than 500KB are the best.
Rotated Images
Phones can easily create photos that are sideways! It depends on the orientation of the phone when the shot is taken.
They will appear incorrect in other apps. This is not an issue with the website, but with your photo.
To fix this, you can try re-taking it, or use an app that will rotate it correctly.
On a PC you can use the windows "Paint" app to rotate the image and re-upload it.

Read them here, Conditions of Entry

View it here, Registration

View it here, Editing the Profile Text

HTML is not allowed.

Social Media:

Instagram: Put "Instagram: your_instagram_name". Note the capitalization and the space after the colon. This will display as a clickable Instagram icon.
Facebook: Put "Facebook: the entire Facebook link. e.g. https://www.facebook.com/my_page_name ". Note the capitalization and the space after the colon. This will display as a clickable Facebook icon.
Email: Put "Email: your_email_address". Note the capitalization and the space after the colon. This will display as a clickable Email button.
Note: When using these Social Media options, leave the standard LINK field blank. These options will appear at the top of the page irrespective of where you add them.

Control Codes:

Image link - If you want to add an Image then put #p at the start and p# at the end - for example #phttps://www.xyz.com/image.jpgp# . The link needs to be the last text on the line, with No stop.
The image is a small version. If you click it then you get the full sized image.
Bold - Put a #b at the start and a b# at the end of what you want to bold. For example #bHello Worldb# -> Hello World. Note: The start is #b and the end is b#.
Italic - Put a #i at the start and a i# at the end of what you want to Italic. For example #iHello Worldi# -> Hello World. Note: The start is #i and the end is i#.
Red text - Put a #r at the start and a r# at the end of what you want to bold. For example #rHello Worldr# -> Hello World. Note: The start is #r and the end is r#. You can Bold and Red at the same time #b#rLike Thisr#b#