FindYourArtSchool.com announced the launch of an innovative and community-driven online art competition. The competition is taking place at: www.findyourartschool.com/contest/

The art contest will allow submissions through June 15, 2008, and is giving away $3,500 in prizes. The online art competition is targeted to younger adults ages 16 - 35, and uses community-based voting to help determine the winner.

“The contest is founded on democratic principles. The more votes and the higher the score of those votes will directly increase the probability of an artist being a finalist,” stated Elliott Easterling, chief judge of the competition. Users can also promote artists they like through social bookmarking services like Digg and reddit.

The website allows a simple two-step process for an artist to submit work. There is no entry fee and artists can submit up to 20 pieces of art each.

“We wanted to create a democratic Web 2.0 experience. Through community-based voting and a well-designed user interface, we are putting the community in charge. We have also added sophisticated algorithms to make the voting as fair as possible,” stated Paul Skowronski, product manager for the website.

The online art contest also has connections into Facebook to allow artists to promote their submissions through existing social networks. Artists can direct friends to their online profiles in order to showcase their full portfolio of submissions.