CoolMiniOrNot announced today the Crystal Brush awards, which will be a painting competition held at AdeptiCon 2011 in Chicago from April 1st to 3rd, 2011.
The Crystal Brush awards are a showcase for the best in miniature painting, primarily focused on fictional settings. As a competition meant to celebrate the hobby, figures from any manufacturer are welcome.
Huge cash prize
Chief highlight was the news that the top scoring miniature would receive $10,000 USD, an unheard-of sum for miniatures. 2nd and 3rd prizes were also guaranteed at $2,000 USD and $1,000 USD respectively.
"This is quite a large sum of money", said Chern Ann Ng, Director at CoolMiniOrNot. "Running CoolMiniOrNot since 2001 has shown us that there is a huge pool of talent out there, but global competition tends to be focused around just manufacturer-sponsored and -controlled events.
"We thought it was high time that someone stepped forward and organized a competition that would really let creative juices flow, regardless of manufacturer ties. Hopefully, the miniature painting community will see we are dead serious, and we expect a good turnout and fantastic miniatures."
AdeptiCon excited to be historic venue
"Obviously, we're delighted to be working with the team at CoolMiniOrNot to put these awards together", said David Pauwels, AdeptiCon Hobby Event Coordinator. "AdeptiCon represents the best in independent miniature gaming tournaments, and so it's only natural that we host the best in independent miniature painting competitions as well."
CoolMiniOrNot does an American Idol
The unique part about the competition is that there is a popular voting component, which accounts for 50% of the score, with 50% from a panel of judges. In the spirit of CoolMiniOrNot, both technical skill and a strong "cool" factor will be richly rewarded. With eleven categories, and beautiful Gold, Silver and Bronze Crystal Brush trophies, there will be many winners at the first-ever Crystal Brush awards.