25.04.2019

Couple of truths about competitions organized by Blue Ocean

Based on our contacts with readers we have learned, that some of you are wondering about the factors that influence the selection of awarded artworks and the rules governing competitions. All legal aspects are defined each time within the regulations of particular competition published on-line. We decided, however, to show the practical side of the selection “from the backstage”. Here is a list of answers to frequently asked questions:

Why do not give more prizes?

The prize pool results from agreements with our sponsors. The competitions appear in almost every issue, which is why their number – a few hundred sets of bricks and valuable toys or gadgets a year – within individual competitions is limited to about 3-5 prizes.

Why I did not win again? I have already taken part in several successive competitions

3.553 artworks – that is how many works we have received in response to competitions announced in only January issues. Such a number of participants stays on a monthly basis. This means, unfortunately, that most children, even in the case of re-participation, do not win.

My child is very talented and tries hard, why do worse works win?

There are no “worse” artworks! We appreciate and admire the involvement of children expressed in works that are made to their best. The evaluation of the competition committee is, understandably, subjective, but for the leveling of chances, we take into account above all:

• the age of the child, and consequently his/her motor skills (if it is possible selection includes artworks of various age ranges)
• work input – many artworks are made with a time-consuming technique that requires full commitment
• creativity – many times projects that get the recognition are full of emotions, non-standard or with unconventional ideas
• compliance with the theme of the competition

Why do you reward artworks that are not made independently?

We would be able to verify credibly the entire independence of the work by organizing “live” contests in our publishing house. As for this is impossible, we have adopted a simple rule: works that give the impression of being independent have a greater chance of winning, but we do not discredit work done together with the guardian. Time spent together with parents or guardians in a joint artistic project is, after all, very valuable, and the most important and most valuable credit of the competition should be having fun.

In the end, we can ensure that competitions are resolved with special care, the participation of min. 3 people in the committee and often the result is achieved through a heated discussion. The result cannot be objective, just as tastes are not objective and are often lined with a note of regret that we cannot reward many excellent and truly inspiring artworks within a limited prize pool.

We hope that participation in our competitions will continue to give children a lot of joy.

More information about individual competitions is available at: www.blue-ocean-polska.pl/competitions