Because it should exist
We love tattoos. We respect the craft, and we like the people who have built their lives around it. So when we had the reach and the budget to do something for the industry, this is what we wanted to do with it — a real competition, open to anyone with a machine and a client, anywhere in the world. As far as we can tell, nobody else is running one. That seemed like a good enough reason to start.
It worked the first time
More than 600 entries from all 50 US states and 21 countries. That was the first year, before anyone had heard of it.
- 600+Entries in 2024
- 50US states
- 21Countries
This isn’t a swipe at conventions
Shows are great and we go to them. The talent on the floor, meeting people who do what you do, the whole social side of it — there is no replacement for that, and we are not trying to build one.
But we have been to enough of them to know what they ask of you. Flights, a hotel, the booth, and three or four days out of the chair. For plenty of very good artists that adds up to more than the week is worth, so they stay home. What they miss isn’t the merch tables. It’s the part where your work gets put next to everyone else’s and judged by people who know what they’re looking at. That door closes for reasons that have nothing to do with how good the work is.
So we moved the competition, not the work
Tattoo in your own shop, on your own client, on your own schedule, inside a three-week window. Do exactly what you already do, in the room where you do your best work. Film two short check-ins, before and after, so nobody has to take your word for when it was finished.
Then when it’s done, instead of only posting it, take the extra step: register and upload it. That’s the whole ask. The work competes, the travel doesn’t.
Free to enter, and the money goes to artists
No entry fee, no purchase, no catch. There is $15,000 in cash and prizes, $11,500 of it cash, spread across nine judged categories plus Best of Contest and Fan Favorite. We would rather spend that on artists than on another month of ads.
Judged by people who know tattoos
Some of the most talented and credible names in the game, judging what they know best. Artists with real shops, real clients and real reputations, giving up their time to look closely at other people’s work — go meet the panel and follow them while you’re there.
And they score it blind: an entry code, the video of the finished piece, the photos, and nothing else. No name, no shop, no handle. A judge who recognises an artist steps back from that entry. Fan Favorite is the one award decided by the crowd, and it says so on the label.