The submissions period is now over, but you can still view the submissions thread here: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1523981

As we near the end of March, the time for this year's Art-Inspired Music Contest (or AIM for short) draws near. This year is a special one as it marks the contest's 10th anniversary! (More details on this below.)

First off, let's go over what exactly AIM is about for those who may not be familiar.

Contest Info

AIM is an annual Newgrounds contest where composers create an original piece of music inspired by a work in the Art Portal. Entries are then evaluated by judges and the winning entries go into a compilation album, available on the AIM Bandcamp!

The contest operates in 3 main sections:

1. Preparation (now until April 21) - You can't start working on your entry yet, but you can search for art you'd like to use for your entry during this time. This is also a chance to think about whether you'd like to be a volunteer for the compo by becoming a judge, a promo artist or by donating some prizes.
2. **Submissions (April 21 - June 19) - This officially begins when I post the AIM 2023 Submissions thread in the Audio Forum (April 21). At this point, you are allowed to start working on your entry, up until the deadline of June 19.
3. Judging (June 19 - TBA) - The submissions period ends and the judges take time to go over the entries. Non-judges also have the chance to vote on their favourite track, which shows up as a bonus winner on the compilation album. There is no set date for when this ends, but in past contests, it's typically been about 3-4 weeks due to the large volume of entries.

Once judging concludes, a results thread is posted and prizes are distributed.

What you can do now

• ✅ Consider becoming a judge or donating a prize or two (see "Volunteers" section)
• ✅ Have a look around the Newgrounds Art Portal and pick what art you'd like to be inspired by. This is also a good time to reach out to the artist if you're planning to use their art, e.g. as cover art for your track, etc. (Please note that A rated art is not permitted to be used as inspiration for the compo.)
• ✅ You must be a scouted musician in order to participate. If you're new to Newgrounds and not a scouted musician, you can take this time to try and get scouted so you don't have to worry about it during the submissions period. You can find more info about scouting by visiting the Newgrounds FAQ and going to the "Audio Portal Questions" section.
• ✅ Ask questions about the compo in the comments below if you have any!

What you should NOT be doing now

• ❌ Don't start working on your entry until the submissions thread is posted. Yes, time zones are weird and it might even be a day later for you than what is announced, but the posting of the submissions thread will officially be the indicator of when you can start working on your entry. You can also join the NG Audio Pub Discord server, as I plan to also post a link to the submissions thread in the #aim-general channel. For the record, I'm in the PDT time zone and the plan is to have the submissions thread posted at 12:01 AM that time zone.

Volunteers

AIM relies on the assistance of a few people in the community. If you're interested, here's some of the ways you can help:

• Judges - I'm looking for 3-4 users to join me in judging the entries. Ideally, these will be users who have reviewed music on Newgrounds and are 18 years of age or older. (NOTE: Judges cannot submit entries.)
• Prizes - This is a fairly large compo and it would be great if we had a sizable amount of prizes for the winners. Something music-related would be nice, but stuff like Steam keys and a cash prize are also great.

If you're interested in helping out with any of the above, please either DM me or leave a comment below and I'll reach out to you via DM whenever I see it.

Roles Filled

• Promo Artist - @BingoWaders

FAQs

This year, I put together a document (or updated I guess, since I think I might have shared one last time) with a list of questions that have been frequently brought up in past AIMs. You can find this document here. Feel free to ask any other questions you have in the comments.

The 10th Anniversary

As stated at the beginning, AIM has officially hit its 10th anniversary and it is a very exciting time for one of the founders and the previous organizer of the Art-Inspired Music Contest, @ThatJohnnyGuy. This is what he had to say:

10 years ago, in 2013, I came up with the idea of an art-inspired music album, so I made a couple of songs inspired my artwork on Newgrounds from artists I really liked. I thought it was an interesting concept and I've not heard of it before, so I wanted to do something different. When I showed my friend @Phyrnna (previously HalcyonicFalconX), she said, "What if you made it into a tournament?" and that's where the idea of the competition was born.

I had very low expectations, but when I pitched the idea to @TomFulp and he put it in the calendar and promoted it as an official NG audio contest, I was floored. I never expected him to do that, but the first year was a really big turnout!!! The earlier contests of course had some rules to tweak and add, working out the kinks, but once I last lead the contest in 2016 (I think? 2017?) and I felt content with how it was, I knew I was able to pass it down to someone as I moved my focus to other things in my life I needed to prioritize.

@Random-storykeeper has been doing a great job with it, and it's great to see it still going 10 years later because of her! Another thing I wanted people to get out of this contest, was getting feedback from others to improve their craft, like a workshop that goes on for a few months to learn something, but also have fun with it. I never expected the contest to get as big as it has or go on this long, but it's very cool, and I'm honored that you all love it that much!

@Phyrnna couldn't participate in this, but she sends her best wishes to you all! This year I'm going to be picking my 3 favorite songs at the end of the contest, to take part in this special anniversary edition of the contest. Happy 10 years, thank you all for keeping the contest alive! Good luck!

Thank you, Johnny, for trusting me as the organizer for this compo. It was surprising as I wasn't really on Newgrounds that much. AIM has opened me up to a lot of amazing talent in the audio community and I'm glad to be a part of it.

And with that, get ready for the AIM 2023 submissions period starting Friday, April 21! See you when the submissions thread is posted!