The Pokemon franchise has one of the most active and creative communities in video games. A day doesn't go by without a talented Pokemon fan sharing their latest creation on social media, whether it's a painting, prose, plushie, or otherwise. For the most part, The Pokemon Company has been more than happy to let its community do its thing, simply releasing games and letting fans enjoy them. Now The Pokemon Company seeks to tap into that community with a new illustration contest for the Pokemon TCG.
The official Pokemon TCG Illustration Contest 2022 will, for the first time ever, be open to contestants within the United States in addition to Japan. It officially begins on October 13 and will end on January 31, 2022. During that window, artists can submit their Pokemon art for the possibility of having their creation adorn an official Pokemon TCG promo card. Winners will even have the opportunity to win a cash prize, though competition is expected to be fierce.
The contest itself has some limitations with regards to what can be submitted, starting with a restriction on what Pokemon the art can be for. Eight Pokemon are available to choose from for the contest, including Arcanine, Bulbasaur, Charizard, Cramorant, Galarian Rapidash, Greninja, Pikachu, and Scizor. Artists will also have to follow a theme, which is the "daily life of a Pokemon" for this year. Artists are also able to submit up to three pieces of art, even if they're all of Pikachu or another Pokemon.
As for the cash prizes, there will be 20 total winners. The singular Grand Prize Winner will receive a prize of $5,000. Two 1st runners-up will receive $3,000 and two 2nd runners-up, with one of each rank coming from the US and one from Japan, will receive $1,000. Then there will be 15 Judges Awards which grant $500. As for being featured on an official Pokemon TCG promo card, only the Grand Prize winner and the 1st runners-up will be given that privilege.
There is some controversy involved in the contest, however. Art contests are heavily criticized within artist communities as exploitative, asking artists to effectively gamble that they might be paid for their work while the contest-runner profits from the promotion. The relatively low prize pool and few numbers of prizes, in comparison to the likely huge number of submissions, seems particularly frustrating.
Yet for thousands of Pokemon fan artists, it doesn't take much to be encouraged to create Pokemon art. The potential to have that art immortalized in the official Pokemon TCG is just a fun possibility. Again, the Pokemon TCG Illustration Contest begins October 13 and will end on January 31, 2022.