
You didn't win this award! - Seasons Greetings
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'Losing' is a part of life....we all get that, especially if you're an artist taking the giant leap of all artist kind and submitting your work to competitions. It doesn't take us long to become a seasoned professional at this losing lark, as a generally self- deprecating bunch, we rarely ever expect to win and that imposter syndrome loves nothing more than to feast on a vulnerable creative in such moments. So once again, I shall welcome you all my fellow 'losers' to this, yet another of my #ididntwinwiththis stories. If we're all feeling like imposters I'm pretty sure that in itself proves we're not!
Sometimes the results of a competition roll in, you see the winner or winners of said comp and you doff your arty cap at their skill and think 'fair dos'.... But there are times, yes you know what I'm going to say, there are times when you just think 'say what now? That's the winner???'– well it's time I talk about a few of mine!
'Tis the season for the Christmas card design competition to rear up and entice artists with the promise of festive funds to bolster their coffers. A few years back I saw one pop up and thought 'oh yeah I'll have a crack at that' the theme was 'Winter' and I let it percolate for a bit and had an idea and went with it. Now before I venture into more detail I want to reiterate something that I said in my last 'You Didn't Win This Award' post, this comp had a monetary prize I was happy with and felt would give a just reward for the work put in, it was not and I repeat not, for 'exposure'. It also had the benefit that if I didn't win I could still use the design as a new greetings card for my own shop, so for me it felt like a win, win. No surprise here, but I didn't win.
As this was for a charity Christmas card design, when trying to think of what to do I wanted to strike the right balance with festive cheer, my unique perspective and something I thought would appeal to as many people as possible so it would sell well and raise them heaps. When I thought of the theme of 'Winter' one of the first things that came to mind was the comfort of a lovely warm drink on a cold winter's day, so I got sketching...
We were also asked to share why we were entering to support the charity and my answer included the line: 'The arts has a really important role to play in the health and well being of everyone, they aren't a luxury, they are fundamental in helping us to grow and stay positive when we might be at our lowest'. This is something I believe passionately, but the irony of this competition providing me with one of life's lower moments is not lost on me.
So appropriately enough, like a kid at Christmas I waited with excited optimism until sure enough the results came in and it was a big lump of coal for me! Disappointing as it was I'd been here before, like I said I'm a seasoned professional at this. So perhaps foolishly I decided to see what had won and it left me scratching my head. The piece itself had a lovely and very personal inspiration, it was the very personal nature of it that left me slightly confused. As an art print I thought it was fantastic I just didn't see how it could easily make the transition to Christmas card? But as they say 'them's the breaks'. So I dusted myself off and created a companion piece to my design and then added them both to my shop…
They proved to be two of my most popular cards that Christmas, that's one in the eye for you judges, (even I'm not above pettiness sometimes!), a definite non-winning success story!
It's frustrating when you don't get why something's won, but what's even worse is when something breaks the supposedly ironclad rules of a competition and gets picked! I once did a competition where one of the rules was 'you must in no way change the logo of our brand' and 'lo and behold the eventual winner created a design that was made of literally just altering the logo. Much swearing and metaphorical pulling of hair followed.
It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there over and over again and when you get knocked down with losses it hurts no matter how big or small, that's not a sign of weakness it's normal. But what is more difficult is when goal posts are secretly moved behind the scenes and you get side swiped with hypocrisy. It feels like there's a secret handshake you don't know or an agenda you're not aware of and it very much leaves you feeling 'what's the point?'. Now although I might not be able to take the pain away I can hopefully suggest what the point is...you...you're the point. You have a unique perspective that no one else has, we all do, and although it might not have connected in the way you'd hoped....say with the judges, because let's be honest we could all do with the financial boost at the moment! It will connect with someone, often in unexpected ways you could never have predicted. Any success you do have will not be because of the rubbish like this, it will be in spite of it.
Does this sound painfully familiar to you? If you feel like sharing and getting a few things off your chest please feel free to do so in the comments…no naming and shaming though let’s keep this as polite as possible even if we do feel less than polite sometimes when this stuff happens! If a comment is not going to do your story justice and you want to share it in more detail get in touch I'd love feature them here. I'm open to all sorts of pieces they don't just have to be visual art, they can be literature, music....you name it. It'd be great to hear from you. What didn't you win? Just drop a comment below…