Art Contest Entry Form

ToshoCON Art and Comic Contest Rules

(Includes 2D, 3D, crafts, mixed media, and comic formats)

Age Requirement

• Entrant(s) must be between the ages of 12 and 19, with only limited help from persons above that age.

Residency Requirement

• Entrant(s) must live within the state of Utah and winners must pick up any awards in-person, either at the event or shortly thereafter.

Team Option Requirements

• Entrant(s) can work individually or in teams of up to four. Teams are more commonly seen in the comic category.
• If submitting a team entry, the role(s) of each team member should be clearly identified.
• Each work will be considered a single entry and team members will split the prize if awarded.

Categories

• Winners will be selected from four categories, in two experience levels—beginner and intermediate.
• • Category 1: Hand-drawn 2D
    Scanned image or photo of hand-drawn art in black and white, grayscale, or color (may not use any digital components like touching up or outlining using software, apps, or other digital tools.)
  • Category 2: Digital and mixed media 2D
    Digital file, scanned image, or photo of 2D art in black and white, grayscale, or color that has been drawn using digital tools (may include hand-drawn art that has been modified using digital components like touching up or outlining using software, apps, or other digital tools.)
  • Category 3: 3D
    Scanned image or photo of any work that includes physical depth, including sculpture, handicrafts, or cosplay costumes. Multiple images of a single work are allowed if the differing perspective (top, bottom, front, or back, etc.) add additional value to the viewing experience. The number of images should be kept to a minimum and must be included within one file.
  • Category 4: Comics
    Comics of 1–12 pages may be hand-drawn, digitally drawn, or mixed media. At least one page must have 2 or more cells within the first 1–3 pages. Cells can be organized left-to-right, right-to-left, or top-to-bottom, but an indicator of reading order (arrows or numbers, etc.) should be included. All pages should be included within a single file; the PDF file type is recommended as this will allow the pages to scroll in story order when viewed.
• Beginner and Intermediate levels—ToshoCON reserves the right to move entries from one level to the other based on our assessment of skill.

Entries

• Entrants may submit a maximum of one entry per category. Group submissions are allowed, but the limit of one entry per entrant/group still applies. If entering as a group, please submit your entry only once.
• Multiple entries by the same teen (using different aliases or email addresses) will be disqualified.
• Entrants cannot enter in both experience levels for the same category.
• Judges will not know the identity of the artists as they judge, but entrants are limited to winning in one category. If the same artist(s) wins in multiple categories, one will be skipped over for the artwork rated next highest.

Content

• Entries must be related to anime, comics, manga, Japanese culture, or video games.
• Entries must be uniquely created for ToshoCON 2025 and not previously submitted to other contests.
• Entries must be wholly owned by entrant(s). All artwork, dialogue, and plot must be original, unpublished content.
• Excessive violence and sexual content is not allowed. Profanity, gore, nudity, obscenity, and self-harm is not allowed. The event committee has final say as to the eligibility of the entry.

Plagiarism

• Entries must be wholly owned by the participant(s). Art (and text) must be the original work of the participant(s), whether creating a well-known character or an original character in the anime style. Redraws or takes on a specific scene or image from an anime are permissible, but must be the artist’s version and not traced or otherwise copied directly.
• AI-generated art is a new and untested medium. Because it is so new, and the ethical questions about its use unanswered, it is not allowed to be used for this contest.
• Digitally drawn images are allowed, as long as it is your own work. No clipart or copyrighted images may be used.

Submission Deadline/Voting Deadline

• Contest applications open Tuesday, July 01, 2025.
• Entries must be submitted to the committee no later than Saturday, August 16, 2025 11:59 pm MDT.
• All entries must be submitted electronically via scan/upload/email.
• Online voting for People’s Choice award begins on Monday, September 01, 2025 and closes on Saturday, September 13, 2025 5 pm MDT.

Technical Requirements

• .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .pdf file types are allowed.
• Image files uploaded to the SLCO website cannot exceed 10 MB.
• Entry files less than 10 MB are preferred, but if the entry file must exceed 10 MB—such as when dialogue bubbles in a large comic file become unreadable at a lower resolution—a share link issued by a cloud service such as Google Drive or Dropbox may be entered in place of an uploaded file. The shared URL must directly link to the image file being submitted.
• If you need access to a scanner to digitize your work, visit any County Library branch for free scan-to-email services.

Independent Judging Awards

• First place awards and honorable mention winners for all categories one, two, three, and four, for each experience level, will be determined by independent judges.

People’s Choice Award Voting

• Online voting for People’s Choice award begins on Monday, September 01, 2025 and closes on Saturday, September 13, 2025 5 pm MDT.
• The use of voting bots associated with a contest entry will lead to disqualification.

Award Presentation

• Awards will be presented Saturday evening at the Finale and Awards presentation on Saturday, September 13, 2025. Winning entries will be posted on the ToshoCON Art Contest webpage after Friday, September 19, 2025.
• It is strongly encouraged participants be present to accept any awards. No prizes will be mailed to award winners.
• Participants must live in Utah. Any unclaimed prizes at the end of ToshoCON must be picked up in-person from a Salt Lake County Library branch. The prize pick-up deadline is October 18, 2025.
• All prizes that have not been picked up at a Salt Lake County Library branch by October 18, 2025 become the property of Salt Lake County Library.