1. Sponsor

The Memorial Day Invitational (the "Contest") is sponsored and administered by Studio Praxis ("Sponsor").

2. Eligibility

The Contest is open to visual artists worldwide who are at least eighteen (18) years of age at the time of entry. It is void where prohibited by law. Employees, officers, and directors of Studio Praxis, and their immediate family members, are not eligible to participate.

Medium Restrictions: This contest is restricted exclusively to Painting (including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic, tempera, and mixed media on canvas, paper, or panel). Digital art, AI-generated art, photography, and sculpture will be disqualified. All submitted work must be entirely original to the entrant and completed within the last three (3) years.

3. Entry Period & Fees

The Contest entry period closes on May 31, 2026, at 11:59 PM CST. The entry fee is $35.00 USD, which grants the entrant up to five (5) distinct artwork submissions ("Critique Credits"). Entry fees are non-refundable under any circumstances, except in the event of Contest cancellation as detailed in Section 8.

4. Judging Criteria & Adjudication

This is a contest of skill. Winners will be determined through a two-phase adjudication process:

Phase 1 (AI Evaluation): All entries will be scored using the proprietary Studio Praxis 8-dimension framework. Entries will be evaluated on technical execution and their conceptual resonance with the official contest theme: "Thresholds: The Interplay of Light and Form."
Phase 2 (Human Jury): The top-scoring entries in both the Single Artwork and Portfolio categories will be advanced to a human jury panel for final review and placement.

In the event of a tie during Phase 1, scores will be resolved using a descending hierarchical priority starting with: Composite Score, followed by Concept & Intent, Technical Execution, Composition, Originality, Color Control, Emotional Resonance, and Cohesion.

5. Prizes

A total of $2,500 USD in cash prizes will be awarded across two categories:

Best Overall Portfolio (Requires 2–5 Works): First Place: $1,000 | Runner-Up: $500
Best Single Artwork: First Place: $750 | Runner-Up: $250

Tax Responsibility: Winners are solely responsible for all federal, state, and local taxes associated with prize receipt. Prizes will be distributed via secure electronic transfer. Winners may be required to complete a W-9 or W-8BEN tax form prior to payout.

6. Intellectual Property & Privacy (The Zero-Training Guarantee)

Entrants retain full and complete copyright to all submitted artwork. Studio Praxis explicitly guarantees that uploaded images will never be used to train foundational AI models.

Display Rights: By entering, the entrant grants Studio Praxis a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display images of the winning artworks (1st Place and Runners-Up) on the studiopraxis.io website and associated social media channels strictly for the purpose of announcing the Contest results and promoting future contests. Winning artists will always be fully credited.

7. Warranties and Representations

By submitting an entry, the artist warrants that the artwork does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity, or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity. If the work contains recognizable individuals, the artist must have obtained model releases.

8. Right to Cancel, Modify, or Suspend

Studio Praxis reserves the right to cancel, suspend, or modify the Contest if fraud, technical failures, an insufficient volume of entries, or any other factor beyond our reasonable control impairs the integrity, viability, or proper functioning of the Contest. In the event of a cancellation prior to the completion of judging, Studio Praxis will refund all collected entry fees to the entrants.

By submitting an entry and paying the entry fee, you explicitly agree to these Official Rules.