Pokémon Card Contest Winners Announced After AI Controversy

Each year, The Pokémon Company holds a competition to find a new illustrator for their Pokémon TCG cards. Only in the last couple of years has this been opened to entrants from outside of Japan, and with that has come controversy. However, after a tumultuous period, the finalists for this year’s contest have finally been picked, and damn, it’s all beautiful work.

This year’s contest was rather marred when one entrant, who had been included in the top 300, was rather obviously using AI to create images, and indeed entering under multiple identities. After people made a fuss, The Pokémon Company acknowledged the issue, and said they’d be disqualifying the cheat, allowing other legitimate entries to fill the spaces. It remained concerning that such obvious shenanigans had been let through, but TPC is notoriously enigmatic and incommunicative, so even this was a surprising move.

However, we can now sweep that all aside, and instead celebrate the legitimate artists who deserve their wins. The competition is broken into categories like Best Standard Card Illustration, Best ex Card Illustration, and a Grand Prize. Notably, the winning illustration by Acorviart is stunning, showcasing a Feraligatr in a unique artistic style, while the Grand Prize went to Kazuki Minami for a beautifully detailed Pikachu.