International Arts Excellence Award 2025

Competition Theme

The International Arts Excellence Award 2026 — IAEA by IACCA invites young artists and digital creators aged 3–24 from around the world to explore this year’s theme: Magic World. This year, participants are encouraged to transcend the boundaries between reality, dreams and space. Through traditional artistic expression, digital creation and generative AI, young creators are invited to imagine magical worlds where culture, nature, technology and human imagination meet without limits. What happens when reality, dreams and imagination are no longer separated?

Magic World invites young artists and digital creators to step beyond the ordinary and build visual worlds without borders. These worlds may be inspired by ancient myths, cultural memories, future ecosystems, digital life, artificial intelligence, surreal dreams or personal imagination. A magic world does not have to be far away. It may live inside a forest, a city, a machine, a memory, a story, a screen, or a child’s dream.

Step Beyond The Real

Create your Magic World

Key Concepts for Inspiration

🔹Cultural Heritage Reimagined-Explore and reinterpret ancient legends, folklore, and fantastical visual traditions from diverse cultures through traditional artistic mediums such as Chinese painting, ink art, drawing, painting, and mixed media. Participants are encouraged to bridge cultural heritage with contemporary creative expression.

🔹 Sustainable Futures & Surreal Ecosystems-Integrate environmental awareness and sustainability concepts into imaginative artistic narratives. Envision magical natural environments, future ecological landscapes, or extraordinary worlds where humanity and nature coexist in innovative and inspiring ways.

🔹 Human–AI Symbiosis-Investigate the evolving relationship between humanity, technology, and artificial intelligence. Through creative visual storytelling, participants may explore the fusion of human emotions, organic life forms, mechanical structures, and digital intelligence to imagine future worlds shaped by human–AI collaboration.

Who Can Participate?

Young artists aged 3-24, including students, emerging artists, and visionaries passionate about shaping the future through creativity.

Accepted Art Forms

🖌️ Painting & Illustration
Ink painting, sketching, drawing, watercolour, gouache, cartoon art, mixed media, three-dimensional models and sculpture.
Two-dimensional artworks should not exceed 40 × 60 cm. A 5–10 mm margin should be left where applicable. Three-dimensional works should not exceed 60 × 60 × 60 cm. Wooden frames are not accepted. Oil paintings must be submitted on canvas only.

📸 Digital Art & AI Creations
Digital painting, digital illustration, generative AI creation, AIGC artwork, digital collage and experimental digital art.
Submit high-resolution JPG or PNG files. Each file should not exceed 10 MB.

🎭 Sculpture & 3D Design
Sculpture, 3D modelling, digital sculpture, ceramics, installation art and other three-dimensional creations.
Submit high-resolution JPG or PNG files showing the work clearly from multiple angles. Recommended: 3–5 images. Each file should not exceed 10 MB.

🎨 Mixed Media & Experimental Art
Mixed media, collage, installation, image-based art, moving-image art and other experimental creative forms.
Submit high-resolution JPG or PNG files. Detail images or process images may be included where relevant. Each file should not exceed 10 MB.

Regulations

Eligibility Criteria:

Eligibility Criteria: This year, participants are encouraged to transcend the boundaries between reality, dreams and space. Through traditional artistic expression, digital creation and generative AI, young creators are invited to imagine magical worlds where culture, nature, technology and human imagination meet without limits.

Competition Categories:

  • A Group: Under 6 years old

  • B Group: 7-9 years old

  • C Group: 10-12 years old

  • D Group: 13-15 years old

  • E Group: 16-18 years old

  • F Group: 19-24 years old

Competition Theme:

The theme is Magic World and participants are required to present the theme through artworks.

Artwork Categories:

This competition accepts both traditional artworks and digital/AI artworks. Artwork categories include but are not limited to ink wash painting, sketching, quick sketch, watercolour painting, gouache painting, cartoon drawing, mixed media, 3D models, sculptures, digital painting, digital illustration, generative AI creations, AIGC artworks, digital collage and experimental digital art.

Artwork Specifications:

Artwork size should not exceed 40×60 centimetres (quarto paper size), three-dimensional painting should not exceed 60x60x60 centimetres. Wooden framing is not accepted, and oil paintings are restricted to canvas only. There should be a 5-10mm margin on all four sides of the artwork.

  • Participants should upload high-resolution photos in jpg or png format, with a file size not exceeding 10MB.

  • Image manipulation is limited to cropping; adjustments, filters, or watermarks are not allowed.

  • Artwork photos should be clear, unobstructed, and free from glare.

  • Award-winning works from domestic and international painting art competitions are not eligible.

  • For digital and AI artworks, participants must submit high-resolution JPG or PNG files. AI-assisted or AI-generated works must include supporting process materials, such as tools disclosure, core prompts and at least three workflow or process images.

Additional Awards (Optional):

An additional My Favourite AI Artwork online voting event will be organized, where participants can create introduction videos related to their submitted artworks and submit them for evaluation. All AI‑created artworks will belong to these categories.

Video Requirements:

The video content must be related to the submitted artwork, including but not limited to creative concepts, the painting process, animation and artwork introductions. The video should be under 2 minutes, in original 1080P or higher resolution, and in mp4, mpg, or mov format.

Registration Submission:

  • After registering for the competition, participants are allowed to prepare and submit their artworks, introduction videos (optional) to the provided email in a certain time. Please indicate the participant's name, artwork title and description(if any) when sending.

  • Shortlisted participants will receive an Invitation Notice for confirmation via email from the organizer.

  • For digital and AI artworks, participants should submit high-resolution JPG or PNG files, with each file not exceeding 10 MB. Participants submitting AI-assisted or AI-generated artworks must also provide supporting process materials, including the AI tools or platforms used, core prompts or keywords, and at least three pieces of workflow or process evidence, such as draft images, generation stages, Img2Img comparisons, ControlNet screenshots, or workflow screenshots.

Highlights for Outstanding Artworks

- Honourably exhibited in regional exhibition

- Receive honorary medals, prizes and certificates co-signed by certified institutions

- Showcased in the International Arts Excellence Award Annual Album

- Advance to the global finals, competing internationally

- Displayed on media or billboards in various international regions

- Invited to the International Arts Workshops/Panels/Exchange Events and International Youth Arts Week summer camp in 2026.

- Opportunities to interact with top participants, experts, and professors from the Faculty of Art and Design from Top 20 University worldwide.

Competition Process

  • Registration and Submission: Artwork Submission by 30 September 2026

  • Expert Review Period: 1 October to 14 October 2026

  • Online Voting Period: 7 October to 14 October 2026

  • Award Ceremony, Exhibition and Panel: TBA

Awards Setting

The event adheres to the principles of fairness, justice, and transparency, with strict standards emphasizing quality. The organizing committee will invite experts from various fields, including calligraphy, traditional culture, literature, art and journalism, to form an expert review committee. Awards will be primarily determined through expert evaluation.

Individual Awards:

Each group will have one Gold Prize, two Silver Prizes, three Bronze Prizes, and several Excellent Prizes. Winners of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prizes will receive certificates, medals and prizes, while recipients of the Excellent Prize will receive certificates.

Students who receive Gold, Silver, or Bronze Prizes will advance to the global finals (for international competitions).

Organisation Awards:

Certificates for Excellence Art Education will be awarded to IACCA Corporate Members who send 10 or more participants to the competition and achieve excellent results.

Outstanding Tutor:

Outstanding Tutor trophies will be awarded to teachers from IACCA Corporate Members who guide 10 or more students to win Gold, Silver, or Bronze Prizes.

Each guiding teacher is limited to one award. If the guidance teacher's name is not filled in the registration form, no award will be given. Retroactive submissions after the event are not valid.

Online selection for My Favourite AI Artwork:

Winners will receive corresponding certificates.

Scoring Criteria:

AI Art Competition Special Rules (AI Category Special Regulations)

To keep the competition fair and track the origin of submissions, for works submitted to Category AI Creations, besides the final piece, participants must also submit the following 'innovative technology chain supporting materials' when registering: 1. Tools Disclosure: Clearly list the AI engines and versions used to create the work (e.g., Midjourney v6, Stable Diffusion XL, etc.). 2. Core Prompts: Submit the main keywords or logical control paths used to generate the image (for the judges' technical spot checks and not for public disclosure). 3. Workflow Progress: Provide at least 3 draft images from different generation stages, comparison images (Img2Img), or screenshots of technical control flows from ComfyUI/ControlNet. 4. Fraud Prevention Across Categories: It's strictly forbidden to submit purely AI-generated works disguised as traditional hand-drawn art (like posing as watercolour or illustration) to the Category for traditional arts. If detected by AI recognition software or reported, all competition and award eligibility will be cancelled.

Copyright Avoidance and Official Disclaimers (Copyright & Liability Rules)

In accordance with the IACCA official disclaimer framework, the following legal firewall clauses are added for AI art creation:

• Copyright & Usage: The copyright of submitted works is legally owned by the author. However, once submitted, the digital usage rights, exhibition rights, and printing rights of the works belong to the IAEA competition committee. The committee has the right to use the works for related exhibitions, media coverage, official catalogue printing, and charitable auctions or other public welfare activities without additional compensation.

• Third-party Infringement Disclaimer: Given the complexity of the underlying training datasets of generative AI tools, participants must ensure that the AI-derived tools and inputs (prompts, reference images, etc.) they use do not infringe any third-party copyrights, trademark rights, or portrait rights. If any copyright disputes arise from AI-generated content, the committee will not bear any joint legal responsibility; participants are solely responsible for any legal and financial consequences, and the committee reserves the right to unilaterally revoke the relevant awards.

• Original Art Policy: For Category (traditional art) originals selected for the physical award ceremony and offline exhibitions, once the works are donated and displayed on-site, they will not be returned. Participants are advised to make their own backups.

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Disclaimer

  • The copyright of the participating works in this competition belongs to the organizing committee, while the authors retain the right to be credited. The organizing committee has the right to retain and use the works in relevant activities, including exhibitions, media, and promotional materials such as websites, posters, publications, etc. The organizing committee reserves the right to use the works for fundraising purposes in charitable auctions.

  • Works selected for the award ceremony must provide the original pieces for exhibition, and these works (if participate by artwork donation) will not be returned. Participants are advised to make their own backups.

  • The content of the works should be positive and comply with relevant laws and regulations.

  • Plagiarism or ghostwriting in the entries is strictly prohibited, and any such discovery will result in disqualification. In case of disputes related to copyrights, patents, etc., the organizing committee does not assume legal responsibility. If it is discovered, either by the organizers or through reports, that an entry involves outsourcing or violates the relevant rules of this event, and there is concrete evidence, the award and certificate will be revoked.

  • All participants in the competition are considered to have accepted the relevant regulations of this event and must respect the decisions of the judging panel. Any questions should be communicated to the organizing committee in writing or through any other means after the competition. If any disruptive behavior is observed, the organizing committee has the right to cancel the participant's eligibility for the competition or award and reserves the right to pursue legal action. The organizing committee reserves the right to change the content and timing of the event.

  • In the event of force majeure preventing the competition from proceeding normally, the event organizing committee has the right to adjust the competition time and format, and the committee will not assume any responsibility.

  • The final interpretation of this regulation belongs to the organizing committee of this competition.