Welcome to the AIM 2024! The Art-Inspired Music Contest (AIM) is a yearly Newgrounds compo that challenges musicians to compose a piece of music inspired by art from the Newgrounds Art Portal.
The submissions period is now OPEN and will close on Monday, June 17th at 11:59 PM PST. Review the rest of the thread below for more details!
This year, I got my friend Selena to create the promo art helping to kick off this year's contest. Check it out below!
REMINDER
This thread is only for SUBMISSIONS and updates related to the contest from the organizer or another user authorized by the organizer. Use the discussions thread for any questions or comments! Non-submission posts are subject to removal.
HOW TO ENTER
- Review the rules to understand what's allowed and what's not!
- Pick a single piece of art from the Newgrounds Art Portal.
- Create a piece of music inspired by that art.
- Upload your submission to the Audio Portal, include "AIM" in your song title (e.g. AIM - Strawberries) and tag your track with AIM2024.
- Review the rules again, then post a link to your submission and a link to the art inspiration in this thread. If selecting a multi-image work, specify which image you used as your art inspiration.
- After submission, I will check over your entry to ensure it is eligible for judging. If it meets the criteria, it will be added to an Approved Entries playlist (which I will link once created). If it is not eligible for judging, I'll reach out in your Newgrounds DMs to let you know why the entry was not accepted. You will be able to update your entry or create a new one up until the end of the submissions period.
...Did I mention checking out the rules? https://random-storykeeper.newgrounds.com/news/post/1437936
May 11, 2024 - Hi everyone, an important update has been made to the rules regarding art inspirations. Effectively immediately:
You may not use art by any of the judges (@Quarl, @AED-4, @Tangerine or myself - @Random-storykeeper) as inspiration for your entry.
If you are currently working on an entry that is using art from a judge as inspiration, please DM me before submitting your entry so that we can work something out - otherwise, your entry will be disqualified.
If you have any further questions, you can bring them up in the Discussions thread or in the #aim-general channel on the NG Audio Pub Discord.
JUDGES AND SCORING
Here are your judges for this year's AIM:
- @Quarl
- @AED-4
- @Tangerine
- @Random-storykeeper (that's me!)
Approved entries will be scored on a 10-point basis in the following categories (for a total of 40 points max. per judge):
- Composition/Structure
- Emotion/Atmosphere
- Production
- Relevance to the Art
Judges are encouraged to leave reviews during the judging period but will not be obliged to due to the large volume of entries. In past compos, we've been fortunate in that at least one judge has given their time and effort to reviewing every entry, but it's not reasonable to expect every judge to be able to do that. Judges' scores will be shared once the results are released and we'll do our best to leave feedback whenever possible.
WINNERS
There will be 21 winning entries in total:
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- Runner-Ups (17 entries total)
- Fan Favourite (more details below)
Fan Favourite
The Fan Favourite vote is a chance for all non-judges to pick and choose the entries they like most from the contest! More details on how this works will be posted in a specific thread made just for the Fan Favourite vote.
PRIZES
1 - Compilation Album
Your track will be included in the AIM compilation album on Bandcamp (see past AIM albums here)
2 - SoundPaint Gift Cards (TOP 3)
This year's prizes for the top 3 entries now include Soundpaint gift cards! They will be distributed as follows:
- First place - $100 USD
- Second place - $75 USD
- Third place - $50 USD
END NOTE
Remember, here's the post with the rules and the link to the Discussions thread if you have any questions. Have fun and good luck with your entries!
