I recently attended a reception to honor the Enclave Arts Competition winners at the Enclave apartment complex in Silver Spring. I received the Distinguished Artist prize for my photographic print titled Erythrina. It was exciting to receive an award after seeing the high quality of the artwork selected, including some excellent student works. A student from Hyattsville, MD, won the $20,000 arts scholarship prize to go towards his education.
There was some discussion on ArtDC about this contest regarding the terms of the agreement that artists signed to enter, which appeared to require artists to give up rights to their work. However, the organizers later clarified the terms to state that artists retain copyright to their submitted work. It is encouraging to see commercial enterprises providing new support for the arts.