The first snowboard company to instigate this type of competition, creativity runs deep at Ride: "Each day I receive four to five emails from kids on what they'd like to see on a snowboard. Most of those ideas never see fruition and actually make it into the line as a graphic, thus the need for a contest of this sort. Let their voice be heard and let's see what they can do. We've certainly seen some over the top creative ideas in the past. Aesthetics are super important with snowboarding's main demographic of kids," said Styk, Creative Director for Ride Snowboards.
Ride Snowboards' 4th Annual Snowboard Art Design Competition will be held and exhibited in Seattle beginning in February 2006 (exact date and location TBD). This year's Grand Prize winner will receive $1,000 cash and a one-of-a-kind Ride Snowboard featuring the winning artwork. The Top 50 works including Best of Show, Runner-Ups, and Honorable Mentions (sponsored by artLink Steamboat) will be exhibited online at www.ridesnowboards.com and www.artlinksteamboat.com.
Winners Keep on Winning...
Past winners over the last three years have gone on to continue working with Ride, getting contracted to design boards and t-shirt graphics. All contestants have had the opportunity to keep in touch with Ride's Creative Department for possible future projects.
"I got the board yesterday. Thank you so much! It is awesome to see my work on it! This has been a great experience and I really appreciate you guys for having the art competition," said Darshan Phillips, grand-prize winner from last year's Snowboard Art Design Competition.
"[SNOWBOARD ART] was a great opportunity to display my talent and hopefully get noticed," said Derek Muscat, grand-prize winner from the first year's competition. (Since then Derek has gone on to do board graphics for Ride for the last three years.)
Important Dates:
On or before Dec. 15, 2005, contestants must send the Intent to Enter form including a rough sketch of their concept and the entry fee to Ride Snowboards. Contestants then have one month to finish up and submit final entries by January 16, 2006. Full details on the entry process can be found at www.ridesnowboards.com (click on Culture, then Snowboard Art IV).