1. You must be an artist of some merit. This does not mean you must be well-known as this award seeks to provide free publicity to artists whether they are well-established or not. It does mean you must display a keen eye, good colour combinations, clarity of idea and interesting topic matter. You must get your message across, whatever that may be. Even if all these things are in evidence you may not be chosen if all your work lacks an element of variety.

2. For the purposes of this award, 'art' covers only original drawn or painted work; it does not include photography or sculpture. Plagiarised work or images which infringe copyright will also not be considered.

3. Applications must be by e-mail. This is because you are required to submit two copies of your work along with your submission. These must be sent as attachments and the surface should not be marred with copyright notices. It is suggested you choose carefully from your best pieces as the initial selections for finalists are made from your two-piece submission. Dimensions of the pieces sent are left up to the artist as the judges wish you to present your work as you think best. Please send only .jpg, .jpeg or .jpe images, not .gif files. You should include descriptions of the pieces.

4. Your submission should contain a brief paragraph telling us about you, your artwork, your aims for the future and any past challenges.

5. You must have produced at least 30 pieces of art so the judges have plenty to choose from and to display on Ascension in the event you are a winner. Note that we will require evidence of this before processing your application so these images must be presented online for us to view. (They may be hidden on your server, but we must be able to see them).

6. It is important you include your Web site address as the judges will give preference to artists whose sites are artistically attractive and who show a good working knowledge of how to use HTML to present their work in its best light. This also allows further viewing of a finalists' work so the committee can come to a final decision. As a small hint, we like to see artists display pride in their work so derogatory comments regarding your own artwork will significantly reduce your chances.

7. It is not a requirement of this award that your Web site be in English, however you must be able to communicate reasonably well in this language so the judging committee can process your display should you be a winner.

8. Note that if your artwork is heavily integrated with a Web site advertising your business, whatever it may be, you will not qualify for this award. We will not link to sites which attempt to sell our viewers cosmetics, flowers, Web site design, or 'Make Money Fast' opportunities. This is a serious award and the Committee feels doing this would only undermine its quality.

This award is given only 12 times per year. It is highly desirable and difficult to obtain. If you are chosen as a winner you will receive the following:

1. Up to 24 pieces of your work will be displayed for an entire month in the Ascension Gallery of Fine Art. Each piece is normally on a separate page and it is hoped artists will provide commentary on their works to go along with the pieces. Note that artists retain all copyright and ownership of their work and that images are routinely deleted from our servers and local drives once the month is over. Any enquiries regarding works are automatically referred onto the artist.

2. Your photograph will also be displayed if one is available and your e-mail contact listed. You will be encouraged to provide an Artist's Statement.

3. You will receive the official 'Artist of the Month' logo -- with no strings attached. This means you are neither required to display it or link it, however this would be appreciated. It also means that this site does not use the logo to self-advertise and you will find it does not contain the name of this Web site for that reason.

4. Your banner is displayed on the winners page of this site where it remains indefinitely.