Why should I keep participating in Minted Challenges if I can self-launch my work?

Challenges are the heart of the Minted experience. They are a unique, excellent way to get feedback on your work from other artists and gauge customer trends. 

You must participate in challenges to maintain your ability to self-launch. Because challenges are essential to Minted and our Artist Community, active participation in challenges (submitting to at least three challenges every 12 months) is required. If you stop participating, you will lose the ability to self-launch pieces through your store.

Here are some additional reasons you should continue to participate in challenges:

• Prize payments: As a Challenge winner, you earn a prize payment. Minted does not select self-launched pieces, so they do not receive upfront payment.
  
  
• Visibility to customers: Challenge-winning pieces all show up on our main shopping pages. The majority of self-launched pieces show up only in artists’ stores. Those self-launched pieces that do show up on the main shopping pages are generally featured less prominently than challenge winners. (See here for info on which self-launched pieces show up on our main shopping pages.)
  
  
• The Minted brand behind you: Customers can tell which pieces won in a challenge by the "winner" laurels next to each piece. Self-launched pieces do not have that designation. Customers know that Minted vouches for the content and quality of winning pieces. Challenge winners will continue to be highlighted in our curated collection.