Organizer Information
AI ART AWARD "NEXT ART AI" is organized and hosted by the HOBAN Cultural Foundation, a public-interest corporation established in 2004 in South Korea. The foundation's stated mission is "building a sustainable cultural and artistic ecosystem," with a vision of "an open platform where the value of culture and art is realized." It works to make art accessible to the public and provides opportunities and resources to support artists' development, with a further stated aim of bridging regional and social gaps in access to culture. The competition is sponsored by HOBAN Group, a Korean conglomerate founded in 1989 and based on Hoban Construction, which also operates businesses in housing construction, urban development, leisure, finance, and distribution. Media partners for this edition are Seoul Shinmun and EBN.
Title & Description
AI ART AWARD "NEXT ART AI" (2026)
NEXT ART AI is an open competition for AI-generated art, welcoming participants of all backgrounds regardless of career, nationality, or age. It invites individuals and teams to submit original AI image or video artworks with the stated aim of reflecting on the future of AI art through new modes of expression and artistic experimentation.
Categories
- AI
- Digital
- Video/Film
- Visual Arts
Eligibility
- Open to all, regardless of career, nationality, or age
- Individuals or teams of up to three members, including the team representative
- Duplicate submissions as both an individual and as part of a team are not permitted
- For team entries, the team representative must create an account in their own name, and all team members must submit a Consent Form for the Collection and Use of Personal Information
- Applicants under the age of 19 must submit a consent form signed by their legal guardian
- Submitted work must be an original work created by the applicant or team
- Works that have previously won an award in another competition are not eligible
- Submitted works must be image or video artworks created using generative AI platforms
- Applicants may submit one work per category (AI Image Art and/or AI Video Art)
Program Benefits & Awards
- Grand Prize (1, selected regardless of category): KRW 5,000,000
- AI Image Art — First Prize (1): KRW 2,000,000
- AI Image Art — Second Prize (3): KRW 1,000,000 each
- AI Image Art — Honorable Finalist (5): KRW 500,000 each
- AI Video Art — First Prize (1): KRW 2,000,000
- AI Video Art — Second Prize (3): KRW 1,000,000 each
- AI Video Art — Honorable Finalist (5): KRW 500,000 each
- HOBAN Group President's Award (1): KRW 1,000,000
- Total prize pool: KRW 21,000,000 across 20 winners (prize money paid after deduction of applicable taxes and public charges)
- Plaques and certificates presented at the Awards Ceremony
- Opportunity to exhibit works on the official online platform and at offline exhibition venues
- A featured section on the official online platform showcasing award-winning artists and their works
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 30 September 2026
- Preliminary Round: Early October 2026
- Final Round: Late October 2026
- Final Announcement and Ceremony: Early November 2026
- Exhibition: Late November 2026
Location
Seoul, South Korea
Additional Details
- Submission specs — AI Image Art: 150dpi or higher resolution, JPG/JPEG/PNG/WEBP format, up to 10MB
- Submission specs — AI Video Art: 1,080p or higher resolution, under 1 minute, 30fps/60fps recommended, stereo 48kHz audio recommended, mp4 (h.264) or mov format
- Applicants must secure commercial-use licenses for all external assets, tools, or software used; the creative process must include AI technology (AI-assisted direction, transformation, generation, etc.), and the choice/scope/method of AI tools and prompts used will be factored into evaluation
- At submission, applicants must disclose the AI tools and versions used, key AI prompts, and a list of assets used; failure to do so may result in exclusion
- Evaluation: Preliminary Round is 100% Verification & Eligibility (compliance, relevance to theme, creativity, artistic merit, completeness). Final Round combines Technical Excellence (20%), Thematic & Conceptual Relevance (20%), Creativity & Originality (20%), Aesthetics (20%), Emotional Impact & Social Relevance (10%), and Suitability of Description/Interpretation/Supporting Materials (10%), plus a concurrent Online Public Vote; final winners are based on combined final-round and public-vote scores
- Jury composition and detailed evaluation information will not be disclosed; results are final and not subject to appeal
- The Organizer/Host may reproduce, exhibit, transmit, distribute, and non-commercially use winning works (with possible editing/adaptation that doesn't materially alter the work's integrity); a watermark or AI-generated notice may be added to works published for the second-round online vote
- If any real person appears in a submitted work (face, voice, or other identifiable feature), a consent form for use of their image/voice/likeness is required for each person featured
- Inaccurate contact information, or inability to maintain communication with the applicant, may result in award revocation
- For team submissions, prize money is paid only to the team representative; the Foundation does not handle distribution among team members
- The number of awards/recipients may be adjusted if no entries are deemed suitable
- Misconduct (plagiarism, submitting another's work, false information, third-party rights infringement, failure to secure commercial-use licenses, or content that is obscene/violent/illegal/reputation-damaging) may result in award revocation, prize recovery, legal action, and/or exclusion from future HOBAN Cultural Foundation competitions
- Contact: contact@next-art-ai.com