START21ART Competition Prospectus

NADÁCIA KUBIKUM, with the support of the CENTRAL ART REGISTER, announces the 6th annual Czech-Polish-Hungarian-Slovak fine arts competition, START21ART, for selected final-year students from arts-focused secondary schools.

The Competition aims to support and promote young artists at the beginning of their professional careers by preparing them for professional artistic practice, helping them gain practical experience, develop their authorial skills, and showcase their work to a wider audience through online platforms.

Conditions of the Competition:

The Competition is open to arts-focused secondary schools located in the Czech Republic, the Republic of Poland, Hungary, or the Slovak Republic. Arts programmes must account for at least 50% of all programmes offered by the school. Schools may register via the relevant national website: www.start21art.cz for the Czech Republic, www.start21art.pl for the Republic of Poland, www.start21art.hu for Hungary, and www.start21art.sk for the Slovak Republic.

The School selects the Students who will represent it. However, it may nominate no more than 10% of all final-year (fourth-year) students in artistic fields or programmes. (One nominated Contestant for every group of up to ten final-year students in artistic fields or programmes.) The nominated Student must have reached the age of majority (18) at the time of registration for the Competition.

The Competition allows Contestants to be supervised by a teacher from the Nominating School throughout the Competition. A Contestant who chooses this option must state the name of such teacher (the Mentor) when registering their Competition Work.

Each Student may submit only one Work created exclusively for this Competition. The Work must not have been exhibited or entered into any other competition before this Competition.

• Theme for this year of the Competition is: "Horizons"
• Technique used is at the free choice of the Author.
• Dimensions of the Competition Work:
  • minimum: 29.7 x 42 cm
  • maximum: 100 x 100 cm
• The Work must be signed by the Author and labelled on its reverse with a description of the Work (title, author, year of creation, technique used, theme, brief description).
• Where the Work is a graphic print or a photograph, the Author must label the first original authorial print of the graphic work or photograph.
• The Work must be photographed from both the front and the reverse together with the label.
• A further condition for registration of the Work is the submission of at least one contextual photograph showing the Work installed in a physical environment (for example, hung on a wall or placed on a stand or easel), so that the Work is depicted in space.
• If the Work is digital, it must be printed and prepared for display in a physical environment. The contextual photograph must show the Work in this printed form. If the digital Work is sold at auction, the Contestant must send the printed version to the buyer.
• When registering the Work, Contestants must provide information about it, including its title and description, primarily in English. They may also provide this information in the official language of the Nominating School.
• The Work will be evaluated online based on its digitised form.
• The uploaded file must meet the following requirements: a minimum of 3,000 px, a minimum resolution of 72 dpi, a maximum file size of 10 MB, and one of the following formats: JPEG, SVG, or PNG.

At Level I of the Competition, the Works are evaluated by separate juries in the Czech Republic, the Republic of Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic. Each jury consists of representatives from the Nominating Schools and from the fields of artistic practice and education.

Each participating school may nominate one juror from its own country for Level I of the Competition. The Organiser also appoints further representatives from the fields of artistic practice and education to each national jury.

The Competition Works are evaluated in the final round by a joint jury representing the Czech Republic, the Republic of Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic. The final jury is appointed by the Organiser, and its members may, but are not required to, be Level I jurors.

All winning Works from Level I advance to the final: 21 from the Czech Republic, 21 from the Republic of Poland, 21 from Hungary, and 21 from the Slovak Republic, for a total of 84 Works, hereinafter referred to as the TOP84.

The final takes place on the website www.start21art.eu.

The Organiser may exclude any Work if there is reasonable suspicion of plagiarism or another infringement of a third party's copyright. Before making this decision, the Organiser must give both the Nominating School and the Contestant a reasonable opportunity to respond to the suspicion and obtain an expert opinion from at least one Competition juror or Mentor. More detailed conditions are set out in the Competition Rules.

Schedule of the Competition:

21. 9. 2026	announcement of the START21ART,
21. 9. 2026 – 30. 9. 2026	registration of the school on www.start21art.cz, www.start21art.pl, www.start21art.hu or www.start21art.sk (depending on the country in which the school is based) via the on-line form,
1. 10. 2026 – 21. 11. 2026	registration of the student and his or her Competition Work on www.start21art.cz, www.start21art.pl, www.start21art.hu or www.start21art.sk (depending on the country in which the school is based) via the on-line form,
1. 10. 2026 – 21. 11. 2026	registration of jurors on www.start21art.cz, www.start21art.pl, www.start21art.hu or www.start21art.sk (depending on the country in which the school is based) via the on-line form,
1. 12. 2026 – 12. 1. 2027	evaluation of the Works by the jury,
21. 1. 2027	publication of the results of Level I of the Competition,
1. 2. 2027 – 21. 2. 2027	evaluation of the final Works by the jury on www.start21art.eu,
23. 2. 2027	publication of the results of the final of the Competition on www.start21art.eu,
26. 2. 2027 – 28. 2. 2027	ONLINE STAR voting,
1. 3. 2027 – 21. 3. 2027	auction of all Competition Works on www.kubikum.com,
by 24. 4. 2027	handover of the prizes.

Prizes:

EUR 2,121 for schools in each of the four participating countries (the Czech Republic, the Republic of Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic) whose Students place first in their country. The prize is intended to support the further development of arts education.

Monetary prizes at Level I of the Competition in each participating country:

• 1st place – EUR 630
• 2nd place – EUR 420
• 3rd place – EUR 210

Students who place first at Level I will be offered the opportunity to serve on the Level I jury for the following year's Competition.

Monetary prizes in the final round of the Competition for the top three Works from the TOP84:

• 1st place – EUR 3,000
• 2nd place – EUR 2,000
• 3rd place – EUR 1,000

The physical prize-winning Works will be entered into the auction in accordance with the Competition Rules. However, the Promoter retains an unlimited royalty-free licence to use the Work in any manner under the Licence Agreement.

The ONLINE STAR prize of EUR 210 is awarded to the winner of the online public vote held on the Organiser's website among the TOP84 Works. Each natural person may cast only one vote.

A commemorative publication featuring the Works and profiles of all participating Students is awarded to each Contestant from the TOP21 in the Czech Republic, the TOP21 in the Republic of Poland, the TOP21 in Hungary and the TOP21 in the Slovak Republic. The publication may be issued in printed or electronic form. It is not sent to the Contestant automatically; each entitled Contestant receives a code enabling the Contestant to order one copy free of charge.

All participants receive in-kind prizes provided by the Promoter or the Competition partners, one-year registration in the KUBIKUM register with the KUBIKUM GOLD package, and one registration confirmation for their Competition Work. An author's certificate is not issued automatically. It is issued only at the Contestant's request and only for Works included in the auction in accordance with the Competition Rules.

Students who place 1st to 3rd in the final receive a second one-year registration in the KUBIKUM register with the KUBIKUM GOLD package for the year following the registration referred to in the preceding point, five authors' certificates, and five registration confirmations for Works sold through the KUBIKUM register.

All Works that advance to the final, including the prize-winning Works, are included in the public auction in accordance with the Competition Rules. The Author of each auctioned Work receives 80% of the hammer price, while NADÁCIA KUBIKUM receives the remaining 20% in support of the arts. The Organiser releases the payment to the Author only after the buyer confirms receipt of the Work.

Income from the sale of a Work, as well as monetary prizes and other monetary considerations provided to the winners under the Competition Rules, is subject to the tax legislation in force at the time of payment, including Act No. 595/2003 Coll. on Income Tax, as amended, and the relevant legislation of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Poland and Hungary.

If required by the applicable tax legislation governing the Contestant's income, the Organiser, as the payer of such income, may deduct and remit withholding tax on the relevant monetary prize, payment from the sale of a Work, or other monetary consideration. In such cases, the Contestant will receive the prize or payment after the withholding tax has been deducted.

If the Organiser does not deduct withholding tax, Contestants are responsible for fulfilling their own tax and other legal obligations related to this income or these prizes.

Final Provisions:

By registering for the Competition, participants agree to the conditions set out in the Competition Rules. The Organiser reserves the right to modify the Competition Rules and the conditions of the Competition. Any changes to the Competition Rules will be effected in the same manner as that in which the Competition was announced. The Competition Rules, including detailed conditions and additional information, are available at www.start21art.sk. Terms written with an initial capital letter in this Prospectus have the meaning given to them in the Competition Rules.

This Prospectus and any legal relationships arising from it or in connection with the Competition are governed by the laws of the Slovak Republic. If there is any inconsistency between the English version of this Prospectus, the Competition Rules, or any related documents and their translations into other languages, the English version prevails.