A coloring contest template for organisers: what the rules and the sheet must state
A coloring contest template on Woobox pairs a Download App for each coloring page with a Photo App that collects the uploaded entries. The single-page method needs the Growth plan or higher, because it implements JavaScript, and on the Solo plan the two apps are visited separately. Letting users participate means upgrading when the contest goes live.
Prepared by ContestsOnline editorial desk — Revised
How to run an art contest: four decisions, each with a named source
An art contest asks the organiser for four decisions, and the published guides name a source for each. The first is what is accepted: CaFÉ says to start by determining which artistic disciplines are accepted, such as paintings, sculptures or photography, and then to narrow down the media types allowed.
A coloring contest adds two items of its own: the sheet and the registrant, since the organiser supplies the lines and someone has to register the entry. Whether the call for entry goes out as a poster, a flyer or a web page, it carries the same definitions.
- What applicants complete: CaFÉ has the organiser outline what will be required to complete an application.
- What the call for entry defines: the Graphic Artists Guild lists the rules, the specifications for the work entered, any fees for entry and any rights transferred by entrants.
- When entries are taken: the Artists Magazine competition's official rules give an entry period with a clock time and a time zone at each end.
- Who is eligible and how entries arrive: the same rules require entrants to be at least 18 and of the age of majority in their jurisdiction, and entries to be JPG files submitted online.
A drawing contest names its discipline, its medium and its size
A drawing contest differs from a coloring contest on one line. In a coloring contest the organiser supplies the lines and the rules say what the sheet is; in a drawing contest the entrant supplies them, so the rules carry the specifications for the work entered, which the Graphic Artists Guild lists among the things a call for entry must define.
The published rules show three of those specifications. CaFÉ has the organiser name the accepted disciplines and then the media types, NDOT's art contest fixes the artwork at 11 x 17 inches (Ledger/Tabloid), and Meridian Waste lets entrants color in any medium they like. The Artists Magazine competition specifies the format instead: JPG digital files submitted online during the entry period.
The same clauses apply to a drawing contest template from any source, a generator included. The size, the medium and the format belong in the rules as well as on the sheet.
The art contest certificate is a promise the rules make first
The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture's coloring contest rules state that each contest participant will receive a personalized certificate. The promise covers every participant, winners and others, and it is made in the rules before any sheet is handed in.
A certificate template that keeps the promise needs a field for the recipient's name and one for the contest's name, and the name has to come from somewhere. The same rules have the student's information filled out on the back of the copied coloring sheet, which gives the organiser one record to read the name from.
A certificate promised and never produced is an unkept line of the rules.
Ideas and a theme: examples from a calendar date and a juice box
Two published contests take their theme from something the organiser already owns. Meridian Waste's coloring contest is published on an Earth Day page, which ties it to a date in the calendar, and Apple & Eve's What's In Your World contest puts its official design template on the juice box or online, which ties it to the product.
A theme is a line of the rules and a picture on the template, and the clauses that follow it are the same in both contests. Apple & Eve has a parent register on the contest website and has entrants download and print the official design template, while Meridian Waste splits its coloring contest into three age categories, each with its own template.
An ideas generator or a theme generator can propose a subject, yet the rules still have to say who is eligible, what the entry is made on and how it arrives.
Building the contest on Woobox: two apps, one embed and a plan check
The embed in Woobox's blog post places the coloring pages and the upload on the same page. The post states the condition in plan terms: the method requires the Growth plan or higher because it implements JavaScript, and an organiser on the Solo plan works with a different layout.
On the Solo plan the contest still works: the download app and the photo contest are visited separately, so a visitor makes two stops instead of one.
The build and the launch are separate decisions. Woobox's post says that when the organiser is ready to go live, upgrading is what lets users participate, so the two apps and the embed can be finished first and the plan decision taken at the point of launch.
Platform rules and disqualification: what an entry has to be made on
Each published rule sets a requirement that an entry either meets or misses, and the requirement sits on the entry's own form. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture requires the coloring sheet template included with its rules, Apple & Eve the official design template, and Meridian Waste a printed PDF coloring sheet. What happens to an entry that misses is for the organiser's own rules to state before the first sheet arrives.
Eligibility is a requirement of the same kind. The Artists Magazine competition admits entrants who are at least 18 and of the age of majority in their jurisdiction, and Apple & Eve routes entry through a parent's registration on the contest website. Who registers an entry is the rules' decision, and the registrant is the adult the rules name: a parent, a guardian or a teacher.
A rule added after entries arrive changes the contest that entrants believed they had joined, so every requirement above is printed first.
An entry can be checked only against what the rules collected
Checking an entry means comparing it with a record, and each of these contests produces a different one. Apple & Eve collects a registration form with all required information alongside the official template. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture's copied sheet carries the student's information on its back. Woobox's Photo App collects the uploaded entries, and the Artists Magazine competition receives JPG files online during the entry period.
How entries are judged, and how authorship is confirmed, are questions the organiser's own rules settle before the call for entry goes out.
A claim that an entry is fake is tested against the same record: the registration, the sheet or the upload. An organiser who collected none of the three has nothing to test the claim against.
| Organiser | What the entry is made on | What else the rules state |
|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma Department of Agriculture | The coloring sheet template included with the rules, copied front and back | Student information on the back; a personalized certificate for each participant |
| Apple & Eve | The official design template, downloaded and printed or taken from the juice box | A parent completes the registration form on the contest website |
| Meridian Waste | A printed PDF coloring sheet, colored in any medium | Three age categories, each with its own coloring template |
| Artists Magazine competition | A JPG digital file submitted online during the entry period | Entrants at least 18 and of the age of majority; clock times and a time zone for the period |
Procedure
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Write the rules and the sheet together
The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture's coloring contest rules require entries to be completed on the coloring sheet template included with them, so the sheet and the rules go out as one document. The Graphic Artists Guild adds that the call for entry must define the rules, the work specifications and any rights transferred.
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Create a Download App for each coloring page
Woobox's blog post on coloring contests uses one Download App for each art page offered to users, so a contest with several coloring pages has several Download Apps.
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Create a Photo App for the uploaded entries
The same post then has the organiser create a Photo App, which collects the uploaded entries. The download side and the entry side are therefore two apps, and the embed in the next steps is what joins them on one page.
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Copy both pieces of JavaScript from Embed
In the Download App's management area, the organiser opens the Embed section, where Woobox's post points out two pieces of JavaScript, one block of code and one line of code, and copies both.
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Add an HTML component and paste the code
Back on the promotions page, the organiser manages the Photo Contest, opens the customize section, clicks add component and chooses an HTML component. Hovering over the component opens the edit view, where the block and the line of code are pasted into the HTML field and saved with done.
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Upgrade when the contest goes live
Woobox's post says that when the organiser is ready to go live, an upgrade is what lets users participate. The single-page method also requires the Growth plan or higher, because it implements JavaScript, and Solo plan users keep the two apps on separate pages.
Readers ask
How to run an art contest?
An art contest runs on a call for entry that defines the rules, the specifications for the work entered and any rights transferred by entrants, according to the Graphic Artists Guild. CaFÉ adds that the organiser first decides which disciplines and media are accepted and outlines what applicants must complete.
How to host an art contest?
Hosting an art contest means publishing the call for entry and naming one channel for entries. Woobox's coloring contest method collects uploads in a Photo App, and the Artists Magazine competition takes JPG files online during its entry period.
How to make an art contest?
Making an art contest starts with the discipline and the media, since CaFÉ tells organisers to determine which artistic disciplines are accepted and then narrow down the media types they will allow. The call for entry then writes those choices into the rules, together with the specifications for the work.
How to run a coloring contest?
A coloring contest runs on a template that travels with the rules: the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture requires entries to be completed on the coloring sheet template included with its rules. Apple & Eve and Meridian Waste issue the sheet for download and printing, and the rules say who registers and which age category applies.
What does an art contest certificate template need?
An art contest certificate template needs a field for the recipient's name, because the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture's coloring contest rules promise each participant a personalized certificate. The name comes from the record the organiser holds, such as the information on the back of the copied sheet.
Which Woobox plan does a coloring contest need?
The single-page method needs the Growth plan or higher, according to Woobox's blog post on coloring contests, because it implements JavaScript. On the Solo plan the download app and the photo contest are visited separately, and going live with users participating means upgrading.
Who registers an entry in a children's coloring contest?
Parents register the entry in Apple & Eve's What's In Your World contest, by completing the registration form on the contest website. An organiser's own rules name the registrant, whether a parent, a guardian or a teacher, and the template carries the fields for that adult's details.
What disqualifies an entry in an art contest?
Missing a printed requirement disqualifies an entry only if the organiser's rules say so. The published examples state the template, the entry period and the eligibility, and the consequence is the organiser's to write before entries open.
Notes and sources
- Woobox. blog.woobox.com/2016/11/coloring-contest/.
- Woobox. blog.woobox.com/2016/11/coloring-contest/.
- cdn.agclassroom.org. cdn.agclassroom.org/ok/contest/rules-coloring.pdf.
- appleandeve.com. appleandeve.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Whats-In-Your-World-Official-Contest-Rules.pdf.
- graphicartistsguild.org. graphicartistsguild.org/guidelines-for-art-competitions/.
Nothing on this page is legal advice: who is eligible, what rights entrants transfer and whether a contest can be open to minors are questions for a lawyer or attorney in the organiser's jurisdiction. A template cannot make a contest lawful, and no published rule quoted here replaces the organiser's own rules. Woobox plan requirements are given as its blog post states them; the vendor's plan pages govern, and no plan figures appear here.
Woobox's user terms require entrants to agree to the organiser's official rules, so any limit on bought or incentivised votes depends on the particular contest. Walmart's Associate Talent Search rules prohibit paying for votes and let Walmart void fraudulent votes or disqualify the entrant. The platform's terms and the organiser's rules are two documents, and a disqualification is decided under the second.
Woobox lists three warning signs of bought votes: many votes from one IP address, votes from people in different countries and regular voting intervals. Award Force says its platform detects and blocks automated or scripted voting and rate-limits rapid voting. Ordinary participation is uneven in time and independent in origin, so it shows none of those patterns; this describes how checks read a count and is not a method for passing one.
In the United States, the FTC says a sweepstakes cannot require a purchase to enter, and California says a sweepstakes must offer a way to enter without cost. Those rules concern sweepstakes entry, not votes: whether a contest allows paid votes is written in its own rules, and ViralSweep even lets organisers configure Pay to Vote. Contests whose rules bar outside votes are refused, and so are political ballots.
Once voting closes, a refund applies where votes ordered for a contest never appear in the count the contest itself displays. ViralSweep says its protections may silently flag and block a vote, and Woobox says votes from IP addresses it has flagged as fraudulent do not count even when the voter appears to have succeeded, so the displayed count is the test. An organiser's ruling or a disqualification is never refunded, and neither is an account ban such as the permanent one Gleam says a breach of its terms may bring.