NFT Contest

Look for inspiration in history, how this impacted you, someone you love, or those you’ve never met.  Consider causes and effects as well as iconic images or phrases such as President Richard Nixon declaring what has come to be called the “War on Drugs.” Nixon told Congress that drug addiction had “assumed the dimensions of a national emergency. ”Drug abuse,” said the president, was “public enemy number one.”

Depict the criminalization of people, Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No”. Remember “This is your brain on drugs” in the 80s, the Crime Bill, and Pioneer Medical Marijuana Advocates in the 90’s. Below are some ideas decade by decade:

1970’s – Declaration of the War on Drugs

1980’s – Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No.”

1990’s – Fight for Safe Access: Brownie Mary, Dennis Peron, Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative

2000’s – The People V. – Two Supreme Court Of The United States cases, United States V OCBC ‘01, Ashcroft V Raich in ‘05.

2010’s – Political Action! Changing laws one voter initiative at a time. 

2020’s – “Just Say Know.” Hemp can save the planet! Deschedule!

Descheduling Marijuana Did you Know

Please see examples of other NFT collections and artwork guidelines on www.opensea.io, where the winning NFTs will be listed.

Please see artwork guidelines at https://openseahelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360061943574-Is-there-a-maximum-file-size-I-can-upload-

Artworks must be portrait-oriented (2.75 inches x 4.75 inches), two-sided, and should have the size, look and feel of a Trading or Tarot Card, with key art on front, and supporting information, with your choice of themed art on the reverse (art can be similar or different).  Pieces must include animation and flip over on intervals.

Each artwork should include either a clean 5-15 second voice-over from the Artist talking about the piece or written notes that will be uploaded at the time of submission unless silence is your message. Please NO music or sound effects unless licensed or owned by an Artist! 

Oaksterdam University’s current and past logos allowed, a shapeshifting logo, or no logo,  is permitted; it’s up to you as long as you stick to the theme. No use of logos other than that of Oaksterdam or the Artist’s mark. The Artist’s license to incorporate the Oaksterdam logo into Artist’s work shall be limited to uses that fall within the scope of the NFT Contest. No license or permission is extended to the Artist to use the Oaksterdam name or logo shall extend beyond the term of the NFT Contest. Creative direction may be provided to the Artist for final release by Oaksterdam. 

Well-placed slang and mild profanity are okay, but no hate speech or visual hate representation towards any race or sexual orientation.  Humor and strategic political satire are welcome. Judges will consider direct quotes by architects of the Drug War or thoughtfully depicting racial inequities or statistics on an individual basis.

No posting, sharing, or disseminating submissions by any means to the public or anyone during or after the contest, if winner, wherein such instance, Artist may forfeit winnings. Must be 18 years of age minimum at the time of submission.  No use of music or sound effects not owned or licensed by Artist.  No plagiarism or submitting work other than your own.  No hate speech or visual hate representation towards any race or sexual orientation.

Winning Artists agree to perform at least one round of minor edits with 72 hours’ notice.  By submitting artworks and agreeing to contest rules, the Artist declares submission(s) are their original creations and holds Oaksterdam University harmless, and releases Oaksterdam University from any liability or damages.  All submissions, including those not selected as winners, and their associated copyrights, become the property of Oaksterdam University at the time of submission, but submissions will not be used commercially unless Oaksterdam University executes a contract with the Artist.  After the artwork is submitted to Oaksterdam University, no contestant may thereafter publish or disseminate that artwork without express permission from Wise Education Technology, Inc. The value of prizes and awards/gifts to individuals is considered taxable income. Some images may become limited editions to guarantee scarcity. Each limited Edition NFT will be marked with a unique serial number with protected ownership secured by the blockchain. Artists acknowledge that such marking will not be considered a material alteration to or distortion of the artwork. Contest applicants agree to receive emails, where they can choose to unsubscribe at any time and are aware Oaksterdam staff or representative may contact you by email, phone, or text. We understand the desire to share and post your work with friends, family, and fans, but PLEASE TAKE DISQUALIFICATIONS SECTION SERIOUSLY. 

NFT stands for non-fungible token. “Non-fungible” more or less means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. Physical money and cryptocurrencies are “fungible,” meaning they can be traded or exchanged for one another. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have an identical bitcoin. A one-of-a-kind trading card, however, is non-fungible. If you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different. NFTs can really be anything digital.

NFTs are part of a blockchain, so they are individual tokens with extra information stored in them. That additional information is the critical part, which allows them to take the form of art, music, video (and so on), like JPGs, MP3s, videos, GIFs, and more. It’s generally built using the same kind of programming as cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but that’s where the similarity ends.