Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A Beast Named Jury

Should you enter competitions?  If so which ones?  It's a tough decision when your trying to watch your spending.  Trite but true...you have to spend money to make money.  Entering competitions are rarely free and can add up to a hefty sum so it's important to pick and choose your competition.

Napoleon Boneaparte
One of my Five "Animals From History" pieces accepted into 3x3's Picture Book Competition

This summer I was extremely fortunate to get an email from Charles Hivey saying that five of my pieces got into 3x3's Picture Book Competition.  This was the same gaggle I entered into the Spectrum Call for Entries and the Society of Illustrators NY Annual show however I did not get accepted into either of the latter.


Elvis Petme

I don't take it personally if my work doesn't get chosen.  Every competition is juried.  All juries are different.  The work might not be chosen with one jury yet another may choose several pieces.  It's the nature of the beast named jury.


Migrowl De Cervantes

Research who uses the outcome of the competition.  Make an educated decision if it's worth taking the risk to enter.  If there is a handful of companies you have had your eye on that depend on the  outcome, whether it be a show, site or publication, then it's worth taking that risk.


Jizo Bodhissatva

If you get into a competition then chart your activity to see what it is doing for you.  If your obtaining new contacts, seeing spikes in your webstats, noticing more active email and social media requests then it's worth entering again.  The same goes for promotions, shows and conventions.


S. Leopard & Snowzelda Fitzgerald

If your unsure what competitions to choose then try several different ones.  See if you get any bites.  This method can be extremely enlightening if your unsure of what path to take in the industry.

You never know until you try and remember....an acceptance is so much sweeter when you have a pile of rejections in your wake.