Should you compete?
Let me start this blog post off by firmly stating that this is the perspective of a competition newbie. I’ve entered the Reaper MSP Open twice, and a handful of online competitions. I have won bronze both times at the MSP Open pulling in a “Mid Bronze” in 2024, and a “High Bronze” in 2025.
This isn't a guide to painting for competition, if you are looking for that check out Anne Foerster’s post on her Patreon on the subject (it's a great one). Instead this is more of a heads up.
If I may greatly condense all miniature painting comps into two separate types, I would say you have the “Open” system and the “Classic” system. When you are just starting I suggest you stick to the “Open” system. (I’ll touch on the Classic style later). If you are of my generation you were lambasted by boomers lamenting participation trophies. Under some “Open” comps you might get a certificate of participation. This is in no way a bad thing. This is your grade the same way my bronzes were mine. They are a mark on the height chart of your progress as a painter. For me the actual participation is the most difficult part, being around people stresses me out, let alone a convention of peers that I want to like me. Just submitting for some can be the first step, and an important one.
Stay away from online competitions. The one off meme ones are okay, sure, but the big ones to me just kind of feel gross. Online comps to me have little to no merit. The spirit is all off. If I did better in the Squidmar Open would my opinion be different? Probably. Getting nothing, and then being devoid of the main reason to compete felt absolutely terrible. That reason to compete is feedback. This is why you should compete. Not to win, but to share your work and the art you put time into, and talk to experts in the field and gather an understanding of why you placed where you did. I couldn’t exactly take my placement in an online comp and then message a youtuber with over 200k subs who judged and expect feedback.
I would stay away from “Classic” style comps when you are just starting out. A standard gold, silver, and bronze award in my opinion has little place in a competition about something as subjective as art. Granted most Open style comps have this in addition to their normal awards. When they are simply an upper tier it is something to strive for, they feel more akin to a graduation cap. I will also add that at Classic style comps you do tend to have the benefit of feedback, whether that is by judges or peers so they are not entirely something to avoid.
In addition, you need to have the mindset of growth. It's alright to want to be the best underneath that mindset but first and foremost you need to enter these competitions as a celebration of the hobby and artform more than anything else. It is my opinion that you should enter a miniature painting competition, at least once to try it out. You might catch the bug like I did.
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