The Pokémon Company International has created a contest for players of the Nintendo 3DS program Pokémon Art Academy. The winners of the contest will receive a 100-card pack of custom-designed Pokémon Trading Card Game cards displaying their artwork. Contest Entry Period is from February 18th, 2015 until March 29th, 2015. Winners will be announced in April 2015 with the cards being distributed in Autumn 2015.

Press Release - Pokémon Art Academy Competition to find winners whose illustrations will be made into one-off Pokémon Trading Card Game cards

The Pokémon Company International invites Pokémon fans and budding illustrators to enter an International Pokémon Art Academy Contest via Miiverse. Pokémon Art Academy is available exclusively on Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 2DS systems and offers aspiring Pokémon artists 40 lessons in how to paint, sketch, and draw popular Pokémon.

Students of Pokémon Art Academy can pick up illustration skills that they can transfer onto real canvas, or they can share their digital masterpieces with the world. Now, would-be artists can enter a special competition via Miiverse which allows them to showcase their talents as graduates of the Pokémon Art Academy!

The competition will open on 18 February 2015 at 00:01 GMT and close on 29 March 2015 at 23:59 GMT and the winners will be announced in May 2015.

This competition is an exciting opportunity for would-be Pokémon artists from around the world, as the contest’s winners will have their masterpiece turned into their very own Pokémon Trading Card Game card!

Six talented winners will be selected by a jury comprising some of the creators of the much-loved Pokémon universe. Each winner will receive 100 cards featuring their winning image–meaning that they will be in possession of some TCG cards of their own making.*

There are two categories for budding Pokémon artists to enter: Dress-Up Pikachu and My Favourite Pokémon.

Dress-Up Pikachu

Inspired by the special Cosplay Pikachu, which can be discovered in the recently launched Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire video games, this category gives entrants the chance to play fashion designer and create their very own Pikachu outfit!

In the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire video games, Pikachu can dress up as Pikachu Belle; Pikachu Rock Star; Pikachu Pop Star; Pikachu, Ph.D.; and Pikachu Libre. Donning an array of new looks, Cosplay Pikachu can learn moves that ordinary Pikachu cannot learn in normal gameplay, and all have fun costumes that are sure to inspire the would-be costume designers who enter this category.

My Favourite Pokémon

This category gives entrants the chance to submit their own artistic impressions of a favourite Pokémon, which they can do using the Free Paint mode of Pokémon Art Academy. So, if Snorlax awakens an inner Leonardo da Vinci, or Rayquaza gets fans painting with flying colours, then this is their perfect category!

Details of how to enter can be found below, so all that remains is for Pokémon fans to grab a stylus and start discovering their inner artist with Pokémon Art Academy!

*The winners’ cards will not be made available for sale in regular Pokémon TCG products nor will they be eligible to take part in Play! Pokémon officially sanctioned organised play events.

Important Note on Regions

There will be three winners in each category across the participating countries. The following countries are included:

Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia

The following country is excluded: Italy

How to Enter the Pokémon Art Academy Competition

· Create and save an image in Pokémon Art Academy using Free Paint mode.
· Select the “Share” option from Pokémon Art Academy’s main menu and connect to the Miiverse.
· Select the “Post to Competition” option and agree to the Terms of Use.
· Highlight the category you’d like to enter and then choose “Select Competition”. Only the first post you make will be recognised as your entry.
· Slide over the image and select it and then choose “Share Selected”.
· Enter a comment (if you would like to) and then select “Post”. The image will be posted to the Miiverse Community and entered into the competition.
· The only way to enter the competition directly is from the Pokémon Art Academy game, available exclusively for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 2DS systems.

Source: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-art-academy/competition/