Terms & Conditions

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account or submitting an entry to Unbound Artist Awards, you agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions. If you do not agree, do not use the platform. We may update these terms from time to time — continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

2. Eligibility and Account Registration

2.1 General Eligibility. You must be at least 18 years old to enter a competition. By registering, you confirm that the information you provide — including your display name, email address, country, website, and social media handles — is accurate and up to date. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.

2.2 Judges, Admins, and Their Families. Judges and administrators of Unbound Artist Awards, and their immediate family or household members, are not eligible to enter or win any competition on the platform. This exclusion exists to preserve the integrity of anonymous judging.

2.3 One Account, One Entry. You may register only one account, and only one entry per competition is permitted per person. Creating or using multiple accounts to submit additional entries to the same competition is prohibited and may result in disqualification of all associated entries and termination of the accounts involved.

3. Submissions

3.1 Original Work. All submitted work must be your own original creation. You must hold full rights to everything included in your submission. By entering, you confirm that your work does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or any other rights of any third party.

3.2 Format and Limits. Each submission includes one (1) image, in JPG, JPEG, or PNG format, up to 10MB. Submissions must meet the file format and size requirements specified on the submission page at the time of entry.

3.3 License Grant. You retain full copyright ownership of your submitted work. By entering, you grant Unbound Artist Awards a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to display, reproduce, and promote your work in connection with the competition — including on our website, exhibition archive, social media channels, and marketing materials. This license continues for as long as your work appears in our archive. You may request removal by contacting us at info@unboundartistawards.com.

3.4 Finalist and Winner Display. Finalists and winners may be featured permanently in the Unbound Artist Awards public exhibition archive. By accepting an award or finalist placement, you agree to this permanent display.

4. Entry Fees

Entry fees range from $20 to $30 per submission, depending on the submission window (early, standard, or late). All fees are non-refundable, regardless of the outcome of judging, competition cancellation due to extraordinary circumstances, or any other reason. Fee amounts and deadlines are posted on the relevant competition page and are subject to change between competitions.

5. AI-Generated Content Policy

Unbound Artist Awards is a competition for human-made creative work. The use of AI image generation tools — including but not limited to Midjourney, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion, Firefly, and similar platforms — to create or substantially generate any portion of a submitted work is strictly prohibited.

All submissions are screened using automated AI-detection tools. If a submission is flagged as AI-generated, it will be disqualified without refund. We reserve the right to disqualify entries at any stage — including after a winner has been announced — if AI generation is subsequently identified.

We acknowledge that AI-detection tools are not infallible. If you believe your work has been incorrectly flagged, you may contact us to dispute the determination. We will review disputes in good faith but our final decision is binding.

6. Judging

Submissions are reviewed by a panel of creative professionals. Judging is conducted anonymously — judges do not have access to entrant names or identifying information during evaluation. All judging decisions are final and binding.

7. Prizes and Winner Announcements

Prizes and awards vary by competition and are described on each competition's page. Winners will be notified by email and announced publicly on the Unbound Artist Awards website. We reserve the right to modify prize details before a competition opens. No cash alternative to stated prizes will be offered unless otherwise specified.

8. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Submit work that is plagiarised, stolen, or that infringes on any third party's rights
• Submit work containing unlawful, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or otherwise harmful content
• Use the platform to harass, threaten, or abuse other users
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the platform
• Use automated tools, bots, or scripts to interact with the platform
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliations
• Circumvent AI-detection screening through any means

9. Disqualification and Forfeiture

We reserve the right to disqualify any entry, and to revoke any placement, prize, or award already announced, at any time — including after judging, winner announcement, or prize fulfillment — if we determine, in our sole discretion, that the entry or entrant violated these Terms. This includes, without limitation, plagiarism or rights infringement, undisclosed AI-generated content, multiple-account or duplicate-entry violations, and any other breach of Section 8 (Prohibited Conduct). If a prize has already been awarded, you agree to return it or reimburse its value upon request. Disqualification decisions are final.

10. Intellectual Property

The Unbound Artist Awards name, logo, website design, and all original platform content are our intellectual property and may not be used without prior written permission.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Unbound Artist Awards will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the platform or participation in competitions. Our total liability for any claim will not exceed the entry fee you paid for the relevant submission.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or your use of the platform will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Wyoming.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms? Email us at info@unboundartistawards.com.