Entries are now closed for the first round of Laura Lemons Tribute Art Award. Our theme was "darkness", and eight brave entrants have submitted work into the contest.

Current Prize Pool: 46.59 Steem Power Delegation for 3 Months, PLUS 10 STEEM.

This prize pool grows with each post I publish regarding the contest.

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Our First Round Winners

@mattclarke entered with a photograph. In his words: "The chiminea is the boundary between the life to the left; thriving, permissionless, oblivious; and the darkness and silence to the right; inevitable and serene."

The main attraction to this image for judge, @holoz0r, is that the ash is so representative of the darkness associated with death in my largely westernised view of the world.

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Next, we have @juliakponsford, progressing to the next round with their piece, "REMNANTS" In her words, "... our vision is often clouded in darkness and we can only see the pain and loss left behind. As the darkness clears we must recognize that those who have passed are still present in our everyday lives." The ethereal nature of this work took me by surprise.

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@atopy proceeds to the next round, showing light in the darkness, and a shadow of the phantoms that may exist beyond our vision. She's brought her own personal style to the contest; and the end result is unique.

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@kaylinart went to incredible effort and depth with her entry, showing the entire creative process, and being incredibly raw with her entry, leveraging the pain she experienced during a very dark moment of life. She had two posts explaining the work, and both are compulsory reading. [Post 1] [ Post 2] Thank you for your entry, I am humbled by the effort that you went to. You're into the next round!

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@yusaymon entered with an image heavily influenced by laura. She was their first followers on steemit, placing the author of this piece in a similar place to myself, with laura being my 17th follower. The portrait of Laura presented here depicts cats (which she absolutely adored) and captures a ghostly, dark feeling. It makes me hope that laura's cat is getting as much love now as what laura would have given.

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THREE OF THESE FIVE ENTRANTS WILL PROCEED TO THE FINAL ROUND

Key Dates

Round Deadline	Artists Progressing
Monday, 30 October 2017	3/5
Thursday, 30 November 2017	Winner Announced

Rules and The Second Round's Theme

The theme for the second round is "hope", a paradigm shift from our last topic, darkness.

Rules:

1. All work must be yours. No plagiarism.
2. Provide a description of your piece.
3. This competition is open to Visual Art, where the final entry is a two dimensional digital image.
4. Post a comment with a link to your entry, or I'll miss it, feel free to tag your post 'holoz0rlltaa1', so all entrants can see the other work being posted.
5. Resteem the post if you're entering. This isn't necessary, but would be appreciated.

I look forward to seeing all your entries.

About the award

@lauralemons was highly influential to many artists, writers, and good folk here on steemit. Sadly, she is no longer with us, losing a battle with illness. I will not forget the good deeds laura completed for Steemians all around the world.

We are a lesser place without her.

I want her to be remembered with fondness, and creativity; and to reward those who wish to partake.