Tattoo Competitions
Friday
22:00
Best Of Friday
Can be any size, colour or style, must be started and finished at the show on Friday
Saturday
18:15
Best Small Black and Grey
Size under A4 (21 x 29cm), black and grey including opaque and whites
A small amount of colour is allowed less than 10%
Best Small Colour
Size under A4 (21 x 29cm), any tattoo style allowed
Best Traditional / Neo Traditional
Styles allowed: traditional, neo-traditional
Best Oriental
Origins in East Asian art traditions styles and mythology, modern variations allowed
Best Ornamental
Both colour and blackwork permitted.
Styles: geometric, shape, tribal, mandala, pattern, dotwork, blackwork
Best Realism Portrait
Styles allowed: realism and portraits only. No avant garde elements allowed.
Collage or small accompanying realism scenes ARE allowed. but must all be realism.
Best Of Day (Saturday)
Can be any size, colour or style, but must be started and finished at the show on Saturday
Sunday
16:45
Best Script / Custom Lettering
Any script or custom based lettering.
Any size or colours
Best Large Black and Grey
Over A4 (21 x 29cm) black and grey including opaque and whites.
A small amount of colour is allowed less than 10%.
Best Large Colour
Over A4 (21 x 29cm) colour tattoo. Any style permitted.
Best Avant Garde
Any size permitted and can be in monochrome or colour. Tattoo style: collage, abstract, mash up styles.
Best Of Show
Any size permitted and can be in monochrome or colour.
The best of show tattoo must have been started and finished at the show, over the weekend
*HEALED ENTRIES ARE ALLOWED IN ALL CATEGORIES APART FROM BEST OF DAY AND BEST OF SHOW, BUT ONLY BY ARTISTS ACTIVELY TATTOOING AT THE SHOW
HOW IT WORKS
- No registration required
- Entries queue up for each category at the right hand side of the stage (looking at stage)
- Categories will be judged one after another.
- We will do category shout outs also, so listen for announcements
- Judging will be done using a token system
- Contestants come on stage present their tattoo to the camera (linked to a big screen)
- Contestants will then present their tattoo to the judges for review.
- Contestant then lines up on stage and waits
- Once all entries have been seen, judges will give their tokens to their choice of tattoo
- Contestants that don’t receive a token leave the stage
- Contestants with tokens are then rejudged as finalists until one tattoo has the majority of tokens
- Contestant tells us the artist name and studio
- Winner announced and award given.
**In categories where there are large amounts of entries, (and so not enough room on stage for everyone at once) – they will be judged in groups but using the same token system.
Number of entries allowed:
Each tattoo can only be entered into a maximum of 2 categories
JUDGING
The Judging will be performed by independent judges who have have extensive and qualified experience tattooing. Their judgement is final.
Judging will be as fair as possible. All judges have been instructed to look at the following elements (where applicable) of each tattoo presented, as well as their own personal criteria as to what makes a good tattoo.
– Initial Impact
(reaction to first viewing)
– Composition
– Readability
(How clear the tattoo is in terms of imagery)
– Contrast
– Placement on the body
(How it fits the body)
– Linework
– Shading / Colour blending
– Saturation
– Lastability
(How will the tattoo look in years to come)
– Originality / Creativity
(not a factor in Portrait / Realism category)
– Individual Judges own criteria
Bigger does not necessarily mean better.
The execution of the above criteria across the tattoo should win the day!
The standard of work at the convention is expected to be extremely high and whether you win or not is not a reflection of your work, simply the opinion of the judges on the day.