Statutes of the START21ART Competition

Article I.
Basic provisions

1.1.	Statutes of the START21ART Competition 2025/26 are a binding document that regulates in detail the rules and conditions of the art competition announced KUBIKUM FOUNDATION so that they are precisely and clearly defined.
1.2.	The competition is intended for selected fourth-year students of schools with an artistic focus within the meaning of Article IV. of this statute.
1.3.	Consent to this statute is expressed by the participants of the competition by electronic confirmation upon their registration and is a condition for participation in the competition.

Article II.
Announcer and organizer

2.1.

The announcer and organizer of the competition is NADÁCIA KUBIKUM, established on 7 July 2010 with registration number 203/Na-2002/956, with its registered office at Hálkova 2968/22, 010 01 Žilina, Company ID: 42213495 (hereinafter referred to as the "announcer" or "organizer").

2.2.

The main communication channel of the announcer, through which communication regarding the competition, as well as registration according to Article IX, will take place. of this statute is the website www.start21art.sk intended for the 1st level of the competition in the Slovak Republic, the website www.start21art.cz intended for the 1st level of the competition in the Czech Republic and the website www.start21art.eu intended for the finals of the competition. The affiliation to the website, unless otherwise specified, is governed by the country in which the school is located.

Article III.
Aim of the competition

3.1.

The main aim of the competition is to support and promote the work of young artists at the start of their professional careers and to help them: prepare for artistic practice, or artistic profession, gain experience and learn about the specifics of the artistic space, acquire author skills and become more familiar with author rights and obligations (independence, self-discipline, further education...).

3.2.

Other objectives of the competition are: making young artists – students visible, creating a positive example for other artists – students, presentation of artistic designs, spreading awareness of authors and their works, art schools and institutions, supporting artistic creation, supporting art education – schools and teachers, supporting art and culture in a given country, region, etc.

Article IV.
Contestants

4.1.

Selected fourth-year students of schools with an artistic focus (hereinafter also referred to as "contestants" or "authors" or "students") may participate in the competition. Selected means that the student must be nominated by the school where the student is studying in the current year (hereinafter referred to as the "school" or "sending school"). The method of selecting nominated students is chosen by the school. A school may participate in the competition and nominate a competitor only if the share of its artistic departments/programs constitutes at least 50% of all departments/programs it offers. The condition for the student's participation in the competition is that he or she is of legal age at the time of registration for the competition and that he or she is registered in the KUBIKUM register no later than the expiration of the student registration deadline according to Article VI.

4.2.

A school can nominate a maximum of 10% of all students in the last (fourth) year in the current school year to the competition, according to the following key: For every ten students in the fourth year, one nominated competitor. (So, for example, if there are 1 to 10 fourth-year students, there will be one nominated competitor, if there are 11 students, two competitors can be nominated, etc.).

Article V.
Guarantors

5.1.	The competition allows the contestant to be guided during the competition by a teacher from the sending school (hereinafter referred to as the "guarantor"). One contestant may have a maximum of two guarantors. The contestant shall provide the guarantor's details when registering their competition entry. The promoter recommends that each contestant have at least one guarantor.
5.2.	The guarantor is not entitled to any financial reward for his/her activities and does not own any prize in this competition.
5.3.	The guarantor may also be a judge in the competition.

Article VI.
Competition Schedule

6.1.

Competition schedule: 22. 9. 2025 competition announcement START21ART, 22. 8. 2025 – 30. 9. 2025 school registration on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) via the online form, 25. 9. 2025 – 21. 11. 2025 registration of the student and his/her competition work on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) via the online form, 1. 10. 2025 – 21. 11. 2025 juror registration on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) via the online form, 1. 12. 2025 – 12. 1. 2026 evaluation of the works by the jury, 21. 1. 2026 publication of the results of the 1st level of the competition, 1. 11. 2025 - 21. 2. 2026 evaluation of the final works by the jury at www.start21art.eu, 23. 2. 2026 publication of the results of the final competition on www.start21art.eu, 25. 2. 2026 – 27. 2. 2026 ONLINE STAR competition, 20. 3. 2026 – 18. 4. 2026 auction of all competition works at www.kubikum.com, 28. 3. 2026 – May 2026 Top42 live exhibition until 18. 4. 2026 prize presentation.

6.2.

Unless otherwise stated below, the deadline ends at 23:59:59 on the date specified.

Article VII.
Competition Work

7.1.	Each author may submit only one work to the competition.
7.2.	The work must be created exclusively for this competition and must not have been published anywhere before the competition. exhibited or entered into another competition.
7.3.	The theme of the work is Paradox.
7.4.	The technique used is a matter of the author's free choice, unless the organizer specifies it in more detail. The work must be two-dimensional and tangible (it cannot be a video, etc.)
7.5.	The size of the competition work must not be smaller than 297 x 420 mm and must not be larger than 100 x 100 cm. As for multi-part works, so-called polyptychs, the sum of the dimensions of their parts must meet the specified dimensions.
7.6.	The work must be signed by the author and marked on the back with a label according to the requirements of the promoter. A sample label, which the author fills in, will be generated for him after registering for the competition. If the work is a graphic or photograph, the author is obliged to register and thus mark the first original author's print of the graphic or photograph.
7.7.	The competition does not allow the inclusion of works that were created by the collaboration of several authors.
7.8.	The registered student's competition work is approved by the sending school.
7.9.	The work will be evaluated based on its digitized form. 7.9.1. The required parameters of the digitized version of the work are: at least 3000 px and a resolution of at least 72 dpi. 7.9.2. The maximum file size (digitized version of the work) is 10 MB. 7.9.3. Allowed file formats: JPEG, SVG, PNG. 7.9.4. The appearance of the work in the photograph, especially its color, must correspond to reality. 7.9.5. The student shall submit a representative photograph of the work (for the purposes of publication in a book) and a positional photograph of the work for the purposes of evaluating the competition. The work must be photographed in such a way that the front part of the work is shown, as well as the back part of the work, on which the label according to point 7.6. of the Statute is clearly visible. 7.9.6. The student is responsible for creating and uploading the digitized form of the work to the system in the required quality.
7.10.	When registering the work, the sending school confirms that the work and its digitized form comply with the competition conditions. This means that the work is definitively entered into the competition and further manipulation of the work and its digitized form is not possible.
7.11.	The promoter reserves the right to exclude from the competition works that do not meet the conditions set out in these statutes, or works that are offensive, defamatory, contrary to good morals or damaging to the promoter's reputation. Apart from the above, the school or the competitor is responsible for the work (especially for its quality and compliance with legal and ethical standards).
7.12.	From the moment of registration of the competition work, the promoter acquires, on the basis of a license agreement concluded between the promoter and the author of the work, the right to use the work in any way for the purposes of the competition and promotion of the work. The promoter also has the right, after the end of the competition, to sell the work on behalf of the competitor on the basis of a commission sale agreement at auction or in a special shop as part of a live exhibition. After registering the work, the competitor concludes a license agreement and a commission sales agreement by electronically filling out and sending the forms that the site displays after registration. Failure to fill out or send the forms with the license agreement and commission sales agreement to the organizer is a reason for disqualification of the work from the competition.
7.13.	After the end of the competition, the digitized version of the work will remain published on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) and on the website www.start21art.eu (competition works of the final) as a competition work of the given year of the competition.
7.14.	The competition includes a public electronic auction of the competition works and a TOP42 in-person exhibition. The terms and conditions of the auction and in-person exhibition are specified in more detail in Article XI. of these statutes.

Article VIII.
Jury and Evaluation of Competition Works

8.1.	Competition works are evaluated in the first level of the competition by a jury consisting of representatives of the sending schools and other representatives from the field of artistic practice and education, separately for the Slovak Republic and separately for the Czech Republic.
8.2.	Each sending school has the right to nominate one juror to the I. level of the competition, and this juror will be included in the jury evaluating the works from the country from which the nominating school is, i.e. a Slovak school nominates a juror for the jury evaluating the works of students from Slovak schools. For this purpose, a juror code will be generated, the use of which will be conditional on the registration of at least one competitor.
8.3.	Other representatives from the field of artistic practice and education are nominated separately to the jury for the Slovak Republic and separately to the jury for the Czech Republic by the competition organizer.
8.4.	In the first level, the evaluation is carried out separately for the Slovak Republic and separately for the Czech Republic according to the following rules for evaluating the competition works. 8.4.1. The evaluation of the works takes place in the online space and each juror evaluates the submitted works based on their digitized form. 8.4.2. The juror evaluates the works identified only by the assigned code; the names or other data of the authors of the individual works are not made available to him. 8.4.3. The jury will select the 21 best works from all the competition works at their discretion and assign them points from 1 to 21, with the best work receiving 21 points, the second best 20 points, etc. Each point value can only be assigned once, i.e. two works cannot receive the same number of points from one jury. 8.4.4. The judges are bound by confidentiality regarding their evaluation of the competition works and the points assigned during the ongoing evaluation of the works. The judges are obliged to evaluate the competition works objectively. 8.4.5. The order of the competition works will be determined based on the sum of the points awarded by all the judges. 8.4.6. In the event of a tie, the organizer of the competition will decide on the order and distribution of prizes. 8.4.7. The jury's decision is irrevocable.
8.5.	The competition works are evaluated in the final of the competition by a joint international jury for the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic. The jurors for the final jury are nominated by the competition organizer, and the members of this jury may or may not be jurors from the I. level.
8.6.	All winning works from Level I, i.e. 21 works from the Slovak Republic and 21 works from the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as "TOP42"), will advance to the finals. These works will be evaluated according to the following rules for evaluating competition works. 8.6.1. The evaluation of the works takes place in the online space and each juror evaluates the submitted works based on their digitized form. 8.6.2. The jury evaluates the works identified by the names of the authors and the names of the schools that nominated them for the competition. 8.6.3. The jury will select the 21 best works from all the competition works at its discretion and assign them points from 1 to 21, with the best work receiving 21 points, the second best 20 points, etc. Each point value can only be assigned once, i.e. two works cannot receive the same number of points from one judge. 8.6.4. The judges are bound by confidentiality regarding their evaluation of the competition works and the points assigned, during the ongoing evaluation of the works. The judges are obliged to evaluate the competition works objectively. 8.6.5. The order of the competition works will be determined based on the sum of the points awarded by all the judges. 8.6.6. In the event of a tie, the organizer of the competition will decide on the order and distribution of prizes. 8.6.7. The decision of the jury is irrevocable.
8.7.	The condition for holding the competition in the I. level or in the final is the registration of a minimum number of 22 works in the I. level separately for the Slovak Republic and separately for the Czech Republic, and in the final jointly for the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic. If less than 22 works are registered in the I. level in any country, the I. level will not be held for the given country and all registered works will automatically advance to the final. If no works from both countries advance to the final together with after 22 works, the organizer reserves the right to cancel the competition, or provide the prizes or part of them to the participating students in the form of support for their further education.

Article IX.
Registration Conditions

9.1.	School Registration Conditions and Procedure. 9.1.1. The school shall enter the competition by registering via the online form on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) within the specified deadline in accordance with the Competition Schedule (Article VI. of these Statutes) and by entering the number of students who may be nominated for the competition according to the key specified in Article IV. point 4.2. of these Statutes. 9.1.2. After successful registration, the school will generate unique codes for the contestants and the judge nominated by the school, necessary for their registration in the competition. 9.1.3. The school will assign these codes to the nominated judge and nominated students who meet the conditions under Article IV. point 4.1. of this statute. The selection of the student is the responsibility of the school. 9.1.4. The school is obliged to publish the START21ART competition logo or the START21ART competition banner on its website, by selecting one of the pre-prepared options that will be offered to it after registration, along with a link to the START21ART competition website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) no later than the deadline for school registration in accordance with the Competition Schedule. The school must have the selected logo or banner published on its website for the entire duration of the competition in accordance with the Competition Schedule. If the school breaches its obligation, the organizer may decide that the school's actions have violated the terms of the competition and not provide the school with prizes, awards and rewards according to Article X of this statute. 9.1.5. By registering for the competition, the school expresses its agreement with the competition terms and conditions set out in this statute.
9.2.	Conditions and procedure for student registration. 9.2.1. The student enters the competition by registering via the online form on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) using the code obtained from the school that nominated him/her to the competition. He/she may register within the specified deadline in accordance with the Competition Schedule (Article VI. of this Statute). 9.2.2. By registering for the competition, the student expresses his/her agreement with the competition conditions set out in this statute.
9.3.	Conditions and procedure for registering a competition work. 9.3.1. A registered student shall submit a work to the competition by registering it and uploading its digitized form to the designated space on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) within the specified deadline in accordance with the Competition Schedule (Article VI. of this Statute). 9.3.2. The student is responsible for creating and uploading the digitized version of the work to the system in the required quality pursuant to Article VII. point 7.9. of this statute. 9.3.3. When registering their competition work, the student shall state the name of the guarantor who supervised it during the competition. 9.3.4. The registered work must be approved by the sending school in accordance with Article VII. point 7.10. of this statute. 9.3.5. After the work is approved by the school, the work is definitively entered into the competition and any further manipulation of the work and its digitized form is prohibited.
9.4.	Terms and procedure for registering jurors nominated by schools participating in the competition. 9.4.1. Each participating school may nominate one juror. For this purpose, it will be assigned a generated code intended for registering a juror for the competition. The juror code will be available for use after registering at least one competitor from that school. 9.4.2. The juror shall apply for the competition by registering via the online form on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country in which the school is located) using the code obtained from the school that nominated him as a juror. He may register within the specified deadline in accordance with the Competition Schedule (Article VI. of these Statutes). 9.4.3. By registering for the competition, the jury undertakes to evaluate the works in accordance with Article VIII, in particular point 8.4. et seq. of these statutes, to the best of their knowledge and conscience and in accordance with general ethical principles. 9.4.4. By registering for the competition, the juror expresses his/her agreement with the competition conditions set out in these statutes.
9.5.	Terms and procedure for registering jurors nominated by the competition organizer. 9.5.1. The juror shall apply for the competition by registering via the online form on the website www.start21art.sk or www.start21art.cz (depending on the country designated by the organizer), using the code sent by invitation e-mail from the organizer of the competition. He may register within the specified period in accordance with the Competition Schedule (Article VI. of these Statutes). 9.5.2. A juror nominated by the competition organizer may not be in an employment or similar relationship with the school participating in the competition. 9.5.3. By registering for the competition, the juror undertakes to evaluate the works in accordance with Article VIII, in particular point 8.4. et seq. of these statutes, to the best of his or her knowledge and conscience and in accordance with general ethical principles. 9.5.4. By registering for the competition, the juror expresses his/her agreement with the competition conditions set out in these statutes.

Article X.
Winning, prizes and rewards

10.1.	All participating students will receive as a reward for participating in the competition prizes in kind according to the decision of the competition organizer, registration in the KUBIKUM register for 1 year with the KUBIKUM L package, 1 author's certificate and 1 registration confirmation which will be automatically issued for the competition work.
10.2.	Students whose works were placed in the I. level in the order of places 1. - 21. win 210,- euros each. If, in accordance with Article VIII point 8.7. If the I. level of the competition in a country is not held due to an insufficient number of registered works, the prize according to this point may be provided to each competitor in the form of support for their education by the organizer.
10.3.	Students who placed 1st in the I. level will be offered participation in the jury for the following year of the competition for the I. level of evaluation, this does not apply if the I. level of the competition is not held due to an insufficient number of registered works in accordance with Article VIII point 8.7.
10.4.	Schools whose students are placed in the first place in the I. level will receive a prize of 2,121 euros from the competition organizer for the further development of artistic education. This does not apply if the I. level of the competition is not held due to an insufficient number of registered works in accordance with Article VIII point 8.7.
10.5.	Students who are placed in the final in the order of places 1st – 3rd win registration in the KUBIKUM registry with package the KUBIKUM GOLD (for the reward according to Article X. point 10.1., which will be provided to students in the second year after using the KUBIKUM GOLD package), 5 author's certificates and 5 work registration certificates for works sold through the KUBIKUM registry.
10.6.	Students who placed 1st - 3rd in the finals may win another prize at the organizer's discretion.
10.7.	After the competition, works that have advanced to the finals will be transferred to an in-person exhibition combined with a public auction and a special sale on the basis of a commission sale agreement, and after the auction, the author will be paid 80% of the auctioned price of the work (20% is the organizer's commission). The conclusion of a commission sale agreement and the transfer of works that have advanced to the finals to an in-person exhibition combined with a public auction and a special sale is a prerequisite for the delivery of prizes in accordance with point 10.5. of these statutes. Transfer also means the physical delivery of the original work to the organizer, and the delivery will be arranged by the organizer at its own expense.
10.8.	Income from the sale of a work is subject to taxation in accordance with the legislation in force at the time of its payment. The contestants are obliged to settle all tax and other obligations related to this income themselves.

Article XI.
In-person exhibition and electronic auction of competition works

11.1.	All competition works that have advanced to the finals will be included in the in-person exhibition held in Žilina after the results are announced. The delivery of the originals of the competition works to the in-person exhibition and their display is ensured by the organizer.
11.2.	All competition works that have advanced to the finals are, after the announcement of the competition results, also submitted to a public auction on the website www.kubikum.com in accordance with the general terms and conditions of this site. Those competitors whose works did not advance to the finals may also participate in the auction at their own request, while the prerequisite for the inclusion of the work in the auction is the conclusion of a commission sale agreement.
11.3.	The conditions, method, place and time of the auction will be determined by the competition organizer.
11.4.	The auction is organized by the KUBIKUM FOUNDATION.
11.5.	The starting price of individual works will be 42,- euros.
11.6.	A competitor whose competition work does not belong to the TOP42 is obliged to send the competition work to the buyer at his own expense and responsibility. The shipment must also include an author's certificate for the competition work. The organizer may provide the competitor with a deposit for shipping costs, up to the maximum amount of postage determined by the organizer. The competitor is liable to the organizer for any damage that arises from failure to fulfill this obligation. The organizer ensures the sending of competition works included in the TOP42 on behalf of the competitor after the end of the in-person exhibition.
11.7.	Works included in the TOP42 that are not sold at auction will be included in a special shop connected to the in-person exhibition until the end of the in-person exhibition. The sale of works in the special shop will take place on the website www.kubikum.com in accordance with the general terms and conditions of this website. The selling price of the work is determined by the competitor.
11.8.	The dispatch of the competition works sold in the special is ensured by the organizer on behalf of the competitor after the end of the in-person exhibition.
11.9.	The condition for the payment of the prizes according to Article X. of these statutes, as well as the purchase price for the work according to Article X. point 10.7. of these statutes, is the fulfillment of all the conditions of this statute from registration to the end of the auction, inclusive.

Article XII.
Final Provisions

12.1.	Participation in the competition and the prize cannot be enforced by legal means or alternatively paid in money. The winners are not entitled to demand any further performance from the organizer beyond the provided reward. The participants are not entitled to any other performance from the organizer than the performance specified in these statutes.
12.2.	The costs associated with participation in the competition are borne by the competitors, schools and guarantors, depending on who incurs these costs, unless otherwise stated in these statutes. No participant in the competition in any capacity (i.e. competitors, schools, guarantors) is entitled to reimbursement of costs from other participants in the competition (i.e. competitors, schools, guarantors), or from the competition organizer.
12.3.	The Promoter reserves the right to change or amend the competition status at any time, as well as the right to shorten, postpone, interrupt or cancel the competition completely, even without giving a reason and providing compensation. The change or amendment of the competition status will be carried out equally while the manner in which the competition was announced.
12.4.	By participating in the competition, the participant grants the competition organizer consent to the processing of all personal data provided by him. The organizer is entitled to process the personal data of the competitor, in particular for the purposes of implementing the competition, its promotion and evaluation, in compliance with the relevant provisions of Act No. 18/2018 Coll. on the protection of personal data and amending and supplementing certain laws and provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation). Consent to the processing of personal data is given voluntarily for an indefinite period and can be withdrawn at any time, free of charge, in writing, in the form of a letter delivered to the authorized entity (however, during the competition period, this results in the exclusion of the participant from the competition).
12.5.	Participants and winners also agree that they may be required to participate in promotional activities without further consent and without any compensation of any kind for such promotional activities. Such promotion may include, but is not limited to, their names, photographs from prize-giving ceremonies, etc.
12.6.	All personal data provided to the Organizer will be used exclusively in connection with this competition and will not be provided to a third party except for the purposes of the competition (including subsequent promotion, as specified in these statutes).
12.7.	The Organizer is not responsible for any technical problems arising during data transmission by electronic means or for any problems with the functionality of the websites referred to in Article II. point 2.2. of this statute.
12.8.	The organizer is not liable for any damages caused by or in connection with the prize. The organizer reserves the right to replace the prize according to these rules with another prize of a similar type and corresponding value, as well as to change the conditions for awarding the prize.
12.9.	In the event of a conflict between the competition statute and the texts stated in promotional materials or other materials intended for the public, the wording of this statute shall apply.
12.10.	The organizer declares that all legal relationships arising from this statute or in connection with this statute and the competition will be governed by the laws of the Slovak Republic.
12.11.	This statute shall enter into force on the day of the public announcement of the competition.

In Žilina, on 16. 05. 2025