Illustration contests
Illustration contests are contests where entrants are invited to send in illustrations of requested Pokémon, and have them featured on a card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Shōgakukan are the primary hosts of the contests in Japan, with the majority of them held through their CoroCoro publications. Wizards of the Coast and Nintendo have also held contests in the US. The following is a list of all contests from the beginning of the TCG.
CoroCoro Pokémon Illustration Contest
In late 1997, CoroCoro held an Illustration contest, in which the top three illustrators had their artwork featured as one of the Vending Machine cards. These winners were not only awarded by having their art feature on real Pokémon cards, they also received the coveted Pokémon Illustrator card.
| Winner | Card | Type | Rarity | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuuki Kawamura | Poliwrath | 
|
|
Series 1 |
| Keita Takahashi | Snorlax | 
|
|
Series 1 |
| Kazuhiko Nishihara | Mewtwo | 
|
|
Series 3 |
CoroCoro Pokémon Snap Contest
CoroCoro held another Illustration contest in the Spring of 1999 called the CoroCoro Pokémon Snap contest. Five winning entries had their artwork featured on extremely rare reprints. The exact number of these cards in existence is unknown.
| Winner | Card | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Yuuki Tanaka | Bulbasaur | 
|
| Poliwag |
| |
| Magikarp |
| |
| Ryouichi Abe | Gyarados |
|
| Pikachu | 
|
Nintendo 64 Pokémon Snap Contest
Much like CoroCoro's contest, Nintendo 64 held an Illustration contest in the Spring of 1999 called the Nintendo 64 Pokémon Snap contest. Five more winning entries had their artwork featured on extremely rare reprints. The exact number of these cards in existence is unknown.
| Winner | Card | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Narsu Sato | Koffing |
|
| Charmander | 
| |
| Squirtle |
| |
| Articuno |
| |
| Koori Samoya | Chansey |
|
2000 Wizards Pokémon Illustration Contest
In early 2000, Wizards of the Coast ran an illustration competition for the English version of the World Hobby Fair Mewtwo promotional card. The chosen image was that of Christopher Rush and was included with the April 2000 issue of Nintendo Power.
| Winner | Card | Type | Rarity | Card number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Rush | Mewtwo |
|
- | 12 |
2002 Wizards Pokémon Illustration Contest
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.
| Winner | Card | Type | Rarity | Card number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craig Turvey | Snorlax |
|
- | 49 |
Poké Card Creator Contest
The Poké Card Creator Contest was a contest created by Kids' WB! in 2004. Entries had the chance to design an original TCG card featuring one of the following five Pokémon: Pikachu, Mudkip, Treecko, Torchic and Wurmple. It featured a collection of five cards designed by five Grand Prize winners. These winners were featured on the card as the illustrators and also won a 500 dollar giftcard to Target. It was revealed on the week of February 16 and went to Saturday, April 10, 2004. None of the cards were tournament legal.
| Winner | Card | Type | Card number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Kraus | Treecko |
|
1/5 |
| Katie Gross | Wurmple |
|
2/5 |
| May Do | Torchic |
|
3/5 |
| Rowan Laidlaw | Mudkip |
|
4/5 |
| Sylvia Forrest | Pikachu |
|
5/5 |
Illustrations
Pokémon Card Design Contest
In 2009, Shōgakukan held the Pokémon Card Design Contest through many of their publications. Entrants were requested to design the artwork for Notched-ear Pichu M and Arceus. Aside from two magazines that held contests for original drawings, each one provided an outline of the requested Pokémon drawn by professional illustartors (whose artwork were also featured on the cards in the Movie Commemoration Random Pack). This contest was restricted to Japan-only residents and is so far the largest to be held in the history of the TCG.
| Winner | Card | Type | Expansion | Card Number | Promotion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gosho Aoyama | Notched-ear Pichu M |
|
DPt-P Promotional cards | 042/DPt-P | Weekly Shōnen Sunday Issue #33 |
| Shunsuke Takemori | Notched-ear Pichu M |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Kindergarten competition |
| Haruka Uekura | Notched-ear Pichu M |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Elementary School 1st Grade winner |
| Taisei Fujita | Notched-ear Pichu M |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Elementary School 2nd Grade winner |
| Keita Mizuno | Notched-ear Pichu M |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | TV Boy Magazine competition |
| Mahiro Shinozaki | Notched-ear Pichu M |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Puchi Gumi Magazine competition |
| Shizuka Kusakabe | Notched-ear Pichu M |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Pokémon Fan Magazine competition |
| Shoki Nakamura | Arceus |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Elementary School 3rd Grade winner |
| Arisa Sugino | Arceus |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Elementary School 4th Grade winner |
| Meiko Akiba | Arceus |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Elementary School 5th Grade winner |
| Mikako Nishizaki | Arceus |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Elementary School 6th Grade winner |
| Hikaru Okawa | Arceus |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | CoroCoro Comic competition |
| Ryoga Kawai | Arceus |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | CoroCoro Ichiban! competition |
| Natsumi Nishiyama | Arceus |
|
Unnumbered Promotional cards | - | Shōnen Sunday Magazine competition |