Each and every week we probably receive five to ten requests from
major brands for us to post open calls for submissions to various
design competitions.

And we never post any of them.

The reason is, if we put the open call up on the site, it implies
that we are endorsing it. But the truth is we would never advise any
artist – even those we don’t know – to enter90% of these competitions.

It’s not that we don’t think that winning a big prize isn’t a good opportunity for a young artist.

Many times we do.

It’s because nine times out of ten, the terms and conditions (i.e.
“the fine print”) is so onerous and unfair to every single person who
enters, that we would never, in good conscious, suggest that people
participate.

The reality is that in almost all open call competitions promoted by
brands or major companies, lawyers include language in the Terms and
Conditions that strip the artist of any and all rights to their work
when they submit it into the competition.

In 90% of these competitions, when you submit your work you have given the brand all rights to it – for free.

Many competitions generate thousands of submissions. And
technically, if you read the T’s and C’s, the brands now own all of
this work.

Here’s a recent example:

The Italian fashion brand Ellesse just launched a design competition called CREATE TENNIS ART in celebration of their 50th anniversary. The competition has a grand prize of €4,500.

And here’s bullet point #6 in the Terms and Conditions.

6.
Ellesse shall own the entire copyright and all other rights in and to
all of the entries to the Competition. By entering the Competition,
entrants irrevocably grant and assign to Ellesse all rights in their
entries and agree specifically to Ellesse’s unrestricted use of the
same for Ellesse’s own purposes in all activities including, without
limitation, marketing, promotion, distribution and sale worldwide as
Ellesse sees fit, without any further payment or acknowledgement to the
entrants. All copyright, intellectual property rights and all other
proprietary rights whether now known or in the future created shall
vest in Ellesse which it shall be solely entitled to register or
otherwise protect at its own expense. By entering this Competition, you
irrevocably assign to Ellesse all right, title and interest in and to
all such intellectual property rights. You will co-operate fully in
obtaining such registrations or other protection and shall execute such
documents as Ellesse requires in order to give effect to this paragraph.

When we read stuff like this, it absolutely infuriates us. We know why the lawyers do it. To protect their clients.

But if you’re willing to give away all rights to your work simply by entering it into a competition, what value does it have?

For us, the answer is simple.

None.