Competitions Why Taking Part Does Matter by Angelina Selacinski
Online, National, International, Fantasy Art… No matter where you’re located or what your niche is, there’s a lash competition for you. These contests play a bigger role in the industry than many techs may realise. Of course, placing high brings exposure, helping to further careers. However, there’s more to simply taking part than meets the eye…
The Fear of Entering Sadly, I hear techs talking themselves out of entering competitions all the time. Phrases like ‘I’m not good enough’ or ‘It’s a waste of time entering as I won’t win anything’ or ‘There’s so many good people already entering so I won’t stand a chance’ are commonplace around competition time. Every Christmas I run an online competition. It’s free and there are spot prizes to be won, yet some techs are still scared to enter. With prizes available for taking part it’s a shame to hear that some people are too afraid to get involved. I decided to dig deeper… It seems that some people were scared of critique. However, it’s important to remember that critique is good. It gives you an indication of where you went wrong and how to improve in the future. Some were scared of what their peers would think, when in actual fact the majority of your peers will be supportive and you may even inspire them to enter themselves! One of the biggest fears is the thought of coming last. Competitions don’t generally say who came last; they usually give the final 3 results in reverse order. And finally, if you’re one of the many people that think they’re not good enough, there have been plenty of competition WINNERS who had that same mentality – don’t underestimate your own strengths!
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