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Olympic Sport and Art Contest 2008

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its Commission for Culture & Olympic Education is launching an Olympic Sport & Art Contest as it did for the previous edition of the Games of the Olympiad, as part of its celebrations for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008.

This project hopes to foster an active synergy between the worlds of art and sport at national and international level and to heighten perception of the link between these two (2) areas.

Two categories of works of art will be considered in this contest:
1) Sculptures
2) Graphic works (paintings, drawings, engravings, etc.)

The theme for all works of art will be "Sport and Olympism".
The contest is open to artists from countries with a recognized NOC and will consist of two stages: a national phase and an international phase.

The Commission for Culture and Olympic Education will set up an international jury, formed by authorities on art from all five continents along with representatives of the IOC and the Olympic Museum, which will award the following prizes for each of the two categories of works of art entered in the international phase of the contest:

• US$30,000 and a diploma for the first prize
• US$20,000 and a diploma for the second prize
• US$10,000 and a diploma for the third prize
• Five further diplomas for runners up

REGULATIONS

Theme
"Sport and Olympism", the basic theme of the Olympic Sport & Art Contest 2008, may, of course, be developed and envisaged in different ways; this is left entirely to the discretion of the artists.

Participants
The Contest is open to artists and young talents who are nationals of countries with a recognized National Olympic Committee that agrees to organize the national phase mentioned below. There is no age limit for artists.

Categories
There are two categories of works:
1) Sculptures
2) Graphic works (paintings, drawings, engravings, etc.)
There are no restrictions on the choice of technique.

Works that exceed the following dimensions will not be accepted in the international phase of the competition:

• 1.5 X 1 X 1m, including packaging, for sculptures, which shall not exceed a weight of 30kg
• 1.5 X 1m, including frame for graphic arts

Graphic arts must be entered in the international phase already framed (a simple beading is sufficient). Both categories include abstract art.

The entry forms (one for each category of works of art) are attached to the present rules.

Entry forms submitted by NOCs must be accompanied by a complete file including all the following for each work of art:

• the artist's name and a short biography in a maximum of 400 words;
• the title of the work
• the type of work, the supporting material and the technique;
• the dimensions and weight of the work, with and without the packaging;
• the insurance value in US dollars
• several high quality images (digital or negatives) of the works entered in the international phase of the Contest.

The NOCs shall be responsible for having the artists participating in the contest sign a copy of the declaration that is attached to the present rules. This declaration should be returned with the entry form to the IOC Department of International Cooperation and Development.

Timeframe
The International Phase
The IOC Department of International Cooperation and Development and the Lausanne Olympic Museum will hand the logistics of the international phase and the organization of an exhibition of the top eight works from each category. The selection by the jury will take place in 2008.

The Jury
The Commission for Culture and Olympic Education will decide on the members of the international jury who will make their selections in 2008. These jury members will include:

• Representatives of the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education and the Olympic Museum
• Art experts and academics from the five continents

The decision of the jury shall be final and not subject to appeal.

Transportation
All artwork should be sent upon instruction only and on the date given by and to the address provided by the Lausanne Olympic Museum, clearly marked Sport and Art Contest 2008.

The NOCs are responsible for ensuring that the works are adequately and properly packaged. The packaging should be reusable so that the artwork may be returned following the exhibition. The IOC undertakes to organize the return transport of all properly packaged works.

Insurance
The IOC will contract an insurance for the winning works during their exhibtion.

Acceptance of regulations
By their participation in the contest, the NOCs and the artists agree with the terms of the present regulations and the decisions of the organizers and the international jury.
Their decision shall be final.

No work that already belongs to a museum or a private collection can be entered in this Contest. The works entered in this Contest must be free of any third-party rights. The Contest organizer shall not be liable in relation to any such third-party rights.

The six prize-winning art works in the international phase (the first three in each category) shall become the property of the IOC. The IOC reserves all reproduction rights for all works entered in the Contest.

The IOC is the final deciding authority governing the contest and the interpretation of these rules.

Downloadable Forms:
Declaration by the Artist Entry Form - Sculpture Entry Form - Graphic Work	Declaration by the Artist Entry Form - Sculpture Entry Form - Graphic Work

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