Illustration contests are contests in which entrants are invited to send in illustrations of requested Pokémon, and have them featured on a card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Shogakukan are the primary hosts of the contests in Japan, with the majority of them held through their CoroCoro publications. Wizards of the Coast and Pokémon USA have also held contests in the US. The following is a list of all contests from the beginning of the TCG.
In late 1997, CoroCoro held an Illustration contest, in which the top illustrators had their artwork featured as one of the Vending Machine cards. These winners were not only awarded by having their art featured on real Pokémon cards, they also received the coveted Pokémon Illustrator card.
CoroCoro held another contest in May 1999 and invited readers to take interesting pictures of Pokémon from the recently released Pokémon Snap and submit them in the Best Photo Contest. The top five winning entries had their artwork featured on reprints from Expansion Pack. The exact number of these cards in existence is unknown.
Much like the CoroCoro contest, the TV Tokyo variety show 64 Mario Stadium also held a Best Photo Contest in May 1999. The top five winning entries had their Pokémon Snap photographs featured on reprints from Expansion Pack. The exact number of these cards in existence is unknown.
In mid 2002, Wizards of the Coast also ran an illustration competition for the English version of Keita Takahashi's CoroCoro contest illustration. The chosen image was that of Craig Turvey.
The Poké Card Creator Contest was a contest held by Kids' WB! in 2004. Applicants aged between five and fifteen were invited to create an image of one of five pre-selected Pokémon and submit it to Kids' WB! between February 16 and April 10, 2004. Pokémon USA designed five new cards using the winning illustrations. A total of 5250 Poké Card Creator Packs were distributed in July 2004; 50 packs to each of the five grand prize winners, and one pack to 5000 first prize winners. The grand prize winners also won a $500 Target gift card.
In 2009, Shogakukan held the Pokémon Card Design Contest through many of their publications. Entrants were invited to design the artwork for Spiky-eared Pichu and Arceus. Aside from two magazines that held contests for original drawings, each one provided an outline of the requested Pokémon drawn by professional illustrators (whose artwork were also featured on the cards in the Movie Commemoration Random Pack). This contest was restricted to residents of Japan and is so far the largest to be held in the history of the TCG.
Application periods varied on the publication:
Kindergarten; Televi-Kun; Elementary School 1st Grade: February 28 - March 31, 2009
Elementary School 2nd Grade - Elementary School 6th Grade: March 3 - April 2, 2009
It is unknown if there were 100 copies of the selected entries distributed to each of the winners due to the low numbers of complete sets that have surfaced within the collector community. It is speculated that there may only be twelve sets - one for each of the winners.
In 2010, Shogakukan held another Pokémon Card Design Contest through many of their publications. Entrants were invited to design the artwork for Illusion's Zorua and Illusion's Zoroark, again using a pre-drawn template. This contest, much like the one held in 2009, was restricted to residents of Japan. The application period across all publications ran from February 20 to April 2, 2010. Winners were announced on July 27, 2010.
A total of 660 winning entries were chosen across the ten publications, broken down into four bands:
Lucky award (50 winners; 500 total): Five booster packs of Reviving Legends
All selected entrants also received the regular prints of Illusion's Zorua and Illusion's Zoroark (660 total).
Again, it is unknown if there were 100 copies of the selected entries distributed to each of the winners. It is speculated that there may only be ten sets - one for each of the winners.
Unlike the contest ran in 2009, all 660 chosen entrants were showcased on the Japanese Pokémon movie website. Below are the top six entries for each publication, including some additional entries from the Pokémon Fan magazine.
and Arceus. Aside from two magazines that held contests for original drawings, each one provided an outline of the requested Pokémon drawn by professional illustrators (whose artwork were also featured on the cards in the Movie Commemoration Random Pack). This contest was restricted to residents of Japan and is so far the largest to be held in the history of the TCG.
