Entering competitions of any type has risk involved.  But, some demand more work than others.  Take, for example, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, billed as "recognizing the talent of emerging professional visual artists in Canada. "

New artists can emerge at any age. But, most competitions, with such objectives, seem to focus attention on younger applicants.  They also seem to overlook that "courtesy e-rejections" of sorts could be sent to those who’ve put effort into applying (and making the competition stats look good).

After all, the written part of the RBC application does require considerable thought and writing time, if completed properly.  A number of images are required to be professionally painted, photographed, and transmitted, as well as explained—a process that can take about three months, when taken serously.

Not winning, in itself, doesn’t lead to "sour grapes." It’s just nice to feel like you’re worth more than a number!  On application, one is shot back at you, and that’s the last you hear from the organization.  Even if you send follow-up/inquiry e-malls, which are supposed to be permissible, they don’t respond. 

The acknowledgment with number allocation simply says, "Artists who are being seriously considered will be contacted between June 1-15, 2007 for additional inquiries; artists have 48 hours to respond back otherwise they will be removed from the consideration list. Once the 15 semi-finalists are announced on June 29, 2007, all other works are released."  

On July 9, the long silence ended, for anyone who had gone to the trouble of applying and was wondering what was happening (perhaps they were contacted and didn’t know about it…) The announcement didn’t come from RBC, but in an Akimbo special mailing—a coincidental finding for subscribers who might also have been applicants.  

Akimbo relayed that more than 1400 works had been entered by 690 artists. It also included this commentary:  "RBC applauds all of the semi-finalists named today for their artistic talent and achievements," said Gay Mitchell, executive vice-president, RBC. "We are pleased to encourage and support Canada’s emerging artists and hope the exposure they receive as a result of being short-listed as well as having a forum to display their work will provide them with exciting opportunities to advance their careers."

RBC, not having communicated, personally, in any way, with the 675 non-finalists, might have liked to take the announcement opportunity to add, "A big ‘thank you!’ to all other participants—we encourage them to keep on painting!"  But, they didn’t…