Contest: Find chalkboard art drawn by Starbucks baristas (you don’t have to be an artist to enter)

Welcome to the second Starbucks barista art contest at StarbucksMelody.com.  It has been two full years since I’ve done this, and since I really do enjoy barista chalk art, I’m trying this contest a again.  It’s almost the identical contest from two years ago.  Here was the 2010 blog post announcing the chalk art contest:

http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2010/02/11/a-barista-art-contest/

And here were the 2010 winners and entries:

http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2010/03/07/the-starbucks-chalk-art-contest-entries-and-winners/

I so enjoyed finding chalkboard art that I created a whole category about it here (Chalkboard art and partner creativity).

I’m really convinced that there has to be a lot more of this hidden wonderful talent in the Starbucks stores.  I’m on a mission to find it.  That’s the goal of this contest. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AN ARTIST OR A BARISTA TO PARTICIPATE:  All you have to do is go snap a photograph of barista-created art and follow the rules listed below!  By the way, if you are a barista in a licensed store, or find great chalk art in a licensed store, that works too.

In order to make the contest worthwhile and entice people to join in, the prizes will be THREE grand prize winners, each winning a $50.00 Starbucks gift card.  But there are a lot of rules!! Please read carefully!

All the rules are numbered 1 through 20 below:

1. All entrants must be in the United States, Canada, Australia, or the UK.
2. No barista artwork featured can be produced with stencils.
3. All art work must have been on display inside a Starbucks store within the past 90 days of this blog entry.
4. The art work must be on a standard Starbucks chalkboard. This is not an oil-painting, or watercolor or some other kind of art contest.
5. All entry photographs become property of StarbucksMelody.com, and you agree that they may be featured in a future blog post at StarbucksMelody.com.  You agree any watermarking of the photo by StarbucksMelody.com.
6. All entries must be received no later than 6:00 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) on Friday March 30, 2012.
7. All entrants must be over 18.
8. In the event that the same art gets photographed twice by two different people, the person who submits it to me first in time is credited with the entry, and the later in time entry is void ab initio.
9. Enter by emailing me a photograph of the artwork at Melody@StarbucksMelody.com.
10. All email entries must include a first and last name, and a mailing address for a prize in case you’re a winner.
11. IF, you have a twitter profile, please include that in the email too.
12. No entry can be a photograph smaller than 300 x 300.
13. All entries must be a “jpg” file format type.
14. All entries must include the store information (store address, and store number too if possible) where the art work is on display currently.
15. If the person submitting the entry is the barista who did the artwork, please speak up and say so!
16. You may submit more than one entry.
17. Winners will be picked entirely subjectively by “Starbucks Melody” deciding what she likes best.
18. Again, no stencil art!
19. No person may win more than one $50 gift certificate.
20. Void where prohibited by law.

One of the very frustrating things that happened last time is that I had people tweeting me links to random art, and completely disregarding the above rules.  I apologize for having rules, but to keep this organized and fair, if you want your entry to be considered, you really do need to follow the above list of rules.

Just as a reminder, you can take photos in a Starbucks.  Generally speaking, professionals who are using photos in such a way to earn a living from them (such as journalists from news sources, or major bloggers who make a living from their blogging) need to contact press@starbucks.com or other media contacts before taking photos, but customers may take pictures in a store for their personal use.  My understanding (so I hear) is that when Starbucks released an app for the Valentine’s Day cup, there was an email with a reminder at the bottom that customers may take photos in the store. I haven’t actually seen the email, but I’ve heard that there was this recent reminder.

The only way this will work will be to get lots of people involved, so I am counting on my readers to share this via Facebook, or tweet this, or retweet this too.  For those following me on twitter, please know that you might see this same article tweeted numerous times between now and March 30, 2012.  Please be patient!

I am really looking forward to what you come up with. I know for sure there is lots of talent in stores.

(Photo of chalks courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.)