Tattoo contest guide: dated events, entry routes and what each organiser requires
A tattoo contest takes entries through a design form, a sign-up booth or main-stage registration, and five dated ones run between September 30 and November 22, 2026. The #BraveOfUS design contest closes first, at 11:59pm EST on September 30; Villain Arts and Hell City run their contests at shows in New Orleans, Columbus, San Antonio and Tampa. Judging and the organiser's rules, not a listing, decide who wins.
By BuyVotesForContest editorial desk ยท Updated
Five dated tattoo events from September 30 to November 22
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance's #BraveOfUS tattoo design contest opened on March 15, 2026 and sets the first date on the calendar: submissions close on September 30, 2026 at 11:59pm EST, the day this page was last reviewed. Villain Arts follows with New Orleans on October 16 to 18, 2026, and Hell City Tattoo Festival lists Columbus, Ohio for November 6 to 8, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency.
November then fills up. Villain Arts lists San Antonio for November 13 to 15 and Tampa for November 20 to 22, so three of the five dated events belong to one organiser.
Each tattoo contest event here asks for a different kind of entry. One takes a design on a form; the others run contests at the show itself, where the clock is a sign-up window that closes 15 minutes before judging (Villain Arts) or a registration desk at the main stage (Hell City). A design deadline can be met from a kitchen table. A sign-up window cannot.
Where to find a tattoo contest near me, online or in Thailand
Organiser pages are the place to look, because a local request such as near me needs a town and a date that only an organiser prints. Villain Arts lists its shows by city with dates, and Hell City Tattoo Festival lists its event with the city and the venue. Sites that gather events into one list repeat those lines without owning them.
Online entry has a different map. The #BraveOfUS design contest takes designs through a form, and Ink Inc's Tradie Competition, run from a studio in Bangkok, Thailand, offered a free tattoo to whoever sent in their worst tattoo. Tattoo contests online of this kind set their own deadlines and name their own prize.
For Thailand itself, the pages read cover a festival in Saraburi and a tattoo expo, described below. No page read for this guide lists Lopburi or any other place, so none is claimed.
Saraburi: the Camping Tattoo Fest of November 2025
The 2025 Camping Tattoo Fest took place in Saraburi, Thailand, as a two-day event on November 7 and 8, and it marked the third year of the contest. The official programme put the Camping Tattoo Contest on November 8, 2025.
Entry followed a booth rule: tattoo competitions at the fest were limited to artists who had booked a booth. A live design showcase was judged as a tattoo design competition using tablets and announced as a live broadcast in real time. A tattoo contest dance is not what the programme describes: it says no dancing performance is required for the competition.
For a Saraburi video, the organiser's own broadcast is the record. Clips that go viral on YouTube or get argued over on Reddit are third-party uploads and opinions, and they carry neither the rules nor the result. The original video of a segment is the organiser's broadcast, where there is one, and this page lists no clip.
Thai rulebooks: Thailand Tattoo Expo and the 2022 Camping Tattoo Contest
Two Thai rulebooks print conditions that a reader can check line by line. Thailand Tattoo Expo fixed who could enter and how the work was done, and the Camping Tattoo Contest 2022 fixed a fee and a dress theme.
Both Thai rulebooks work through an application or an exhibitor booth, where the Villain Arts and Hell City lines read here work through a sign-up desk on the day. No page read for this guide describes a tattoo contest flash round, so none is explained here.
- Thailand Tattoo Expo accepted contest entries only from tattoo artists exhibiting at the event.
- Thailand Tattoo Expo required fresh work tattooed on site over two consecutive days.
- Thailand Tattoo Expo required each tattoo to be done by one artist only, with no collaboration and no continuing offsite.
- The Camping Tattoo Contest 2022 charged an application fee per tattoo piece, and this page quotes no amount.
- The Camping Tattoo Contest 2022 asked contestants for a tattoo, a good appearance and dress in a camping or bohemian theme.
Miss Artistic Ink: one woman's category and its age line
Miss Artistic Ink is the one contest among the pages read that names a category for women. It is for women aged 20 years and above, its field is limited to 12 participants, and it is open to the public with no booth required. Entrants must have beautiful tattoos, which is the organiser's own wording and its only stated test of the work.
A tattoo contest girl category exists only where an organiser writes one, and the phrase tattoo contest thailand girl matches no dated contest in the pages read. Miss Artistic Ink's own lines print no place, so this guide does not place it anywhere. An entrant under its age line is outside that contest, and no page read describes parental consent as a way around it.
Villain Arts and Hell City: sign-up booth and main-stage registration
Villain Arts holds tattoo contests at all its shows and, unless otherwise noted, the contest sign-up booth stands by the entertainment stage. Sign-ups for these contests end 15 minutes before judging, which makes arrival time part of the entry. The listed shows are New Orleans on October 16 to 18, San Antonio on November 13 to 15 and Tampa on November 20 to 22, all in 2026.
Hell City Tattoo Festival works differently. Contest registration is at the main stage prior to the competitions, and the Columbus, Ohio event runs November 6 to 8, 2026 at the Hyatt Regency. Neither organiser's lines give a per-category limit or an entry fee, so both are questions for the organiser's own page.
The #BraveOfUS design contest: one form per entry
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance's #BraveOfUS is a tattoo design contest, so an entry is a design submitted on a form. It opened on March 15, 2026, and submissions close on September 30, 2026 at 11:59pm EST. Each entry needs its own form, and an artist can submit up to three separate designs.
One form per entry makes the three-design limit easy to audit: three forms, three designs. The deadline is printed with a time zone, so a submission from another zone converts the hour before it starts.
Judging, winners and what a listing cannot settle
A tattoo contest winner is named by the organiser's judging, and the pages read name no winner for any dated event. What they do print is when judging happens: Villain Arts closes sign-ups 15 minutes before it, and the Saraburi programme describes a live design showcase judged as a tattoo design competition using tablets.
Judging is where an organiser's rules meet the entry. An entry that breaks a printed condition, whether a booth-only rule, a one-artist rule or a deadline, falls outside the contest, and disqualification is the organiser's decision under its own rules page. The tattoo competition host, meaning the organiser whose event page prints the rules, is the only party that can name a result, and no listing site can restore an entry the organiser has removed.
Fees, prizes and scams around a tattoo contest
Entry fees appear in some contest rulebooks and not in others. The Camping Tattoo Contest 2022 charged an application fee per tattoo piece, and no amount is repeated here; the Villain Arts, Hell City and #BraveOfUS lines read for this guide mention no fee, and free entry is not stated for any of them either.
Prizes are stated by the organiser or not at all: Ink Inc's Tradie Competition offered a free tattoo at its Bangkok studio for the worst tattoo sent in, and the other pages read describe no prize. A scam around a contest shows itself in one move: a seller names a placing in advance. Judges and the organiser's rules produce every result, and no outside party can change one.
| Organiser and place | Dates | How entry works |
|---|---|---|
| Ohio Immigrant Alliance, #BraveOfUS | Closes September 30, 2026, 11:59pm EST | Design submitted on a form; up to three designs, one form each |
| Villain Arts, New Orleans | October 16 to 18, 2026 | Contest sign-up at the booth by the entertainment stage |
| Hell City Tattoo Festival, Columbus | November 6 to 8, 2026 | Contest registration at the main stage before competitions |
| Villain Arts, San Antonio | November 13 to 15, 2026 | Contest sign-up at the booth by the entertainment stage |
| Villain Arts, Tampa | November 20 to 22, 2026 | Contest sign-up at the booth by the entertainment stage |
Step by step
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Find the organiser's entry page
Open the organiser's own event, rules or entry page and confirm the year, the city and the deadline before anything else. Villain Arts and Hell City list their events by city and date; #BraveOfUS prints its deadline with a time zone.
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Choose among form, booth and stage
Match the contest to its route: a submission form for a design contest, a sign-up booth by the entertainment stage at a Villain Arts show, or registration at the main stage at Hell City.
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Note the deadline and its clock
Copy the closing time exactly as printed, such as 11:59pm EST for #BraveOfUS or 15 minutes before judging for Villain Arts sign-ups, and convert it to local time on the day.
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Confirm who is allowed to enter
Check the eligibility line: booth-booked artists only at the 2025 Camping Tattoo Fest and Thailand Tattoo Expo, open to the public with no booth for Miss Artistic Ink, and women aged 20 years and above for that contest.
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Match the piece to the rulebook
Read the work rules: up to three designs with one form each for #BraveOfUS, fresh work tattooed on site by one artist only at Thailand Tattoo Expo, and any fee line the organiser prints for the contest.
Questions
Can anyone enter into the tattoo and piercing contest?
Eligibility is set by each organiser, and the pages read for this guide print no piercing category at all. Miss Artistic Ink is open to the public with no booth required, for women aged 20 years and above, while tattoo competitions at the 2025 Camping Tattoo Fest were limited to artists who booked a booth.
How do I enter a tattoo competition?
Entry runs through the route each organiser names: a form, a sign-up booth or main-stage registration. The #BraveOfUS design contest takes a submission form, Villain Arts shows have a contest sign-up booth by the entertainment stage, and Hell City registers entrants at the main stage.
How do I enter my tattoo for the tattoo competition?
A wearer signs up where the organiser says. At a Villain Arts show, the contest sign-up booth by the entertainment stage closes 15 minutes before judging, and at Hell City registration is at the main stage before the competition. At the 2025 Camping Tattoo Fest, tattoo competitions were limited to artists who booked a booth.
How do I enter a tattoo into the Tattoo Contest?
A tattoo design contest takes a design instead of a body: the Ohio Immigrant Alliance's #BraveOfUS asks for a separate form for each entry and closes on September 30, 2026 at 11:59pm EST. Live tattoo contests at shows use sign-up booths or main-stage registration instead.
Am I limited to how many I can enter per category?
Some organisers cap entries and some print no cap. The #BraveOfUS contest allows up to three separate designs, one form per entry, and Miss Artistic Ink limits its field to 12 participants in total. The Villain Arts and Hell City lines read here state no per-category limit, so the organiser's page decides.
How much is it to enter the tattoo competitions?
The amount depends on the organiser, and this page quotes none. The Camping Tattoo Contest 2022 charged an application fee per tattoo piece, while the Villain Arts, Hell City and #BraveOfUS lines read here mention no entry fee, so the entry fee line on the organiser's own page is the one to read.
Is there a cut off time to enter a tattoo competition?
Yes, and each organiser prints its own. The #BraveOfUS deadline is September 30, 2026 at 11:59pm EST, and Villain Arts contest sign-ups end 15 minutes before judging. Hell City registers at the main stage before the competitions, with no cut-off stated in the line read.
Are fresh tattoos allowed to be entered into tattoo competitions?
Thailand Tattoo Expo required fresh work, tattooed on site over two consecutive days and finished within the event. The same rulebook wanted each tattoo done by one artist only, with no collaboration and no continuing the work offsite. Other organisers in this guide print no rule on fresh work, so the entry page is the place to confirm.
Sources
- ohioimmigrant.org. ohioimmigrant.org/braveofus.
- ohioimmigrant.org. ohioimmigrant.org/braveofus.
- villainarts.com. villainarts.com/tattoo-contests/.
- hellcity.com. hellcity.com/pages/rules.
- tattoofilter.com. tattoofilter.com/tattoo-events/bangkok/thailand-tattoo-expo.
This page cannot enter anyone in a contest, and no seller can set a placing: judges and the organiser's rules decide every result. It hosts and links no clip or photo of any event. A rule printed by one organiser is never a rule for another, and where a page read here prints no rule, none is assumed.
A contest vote sits under two rulebooks, the platform's and the organiser's. On CuteBaby, voters get ten free daily votes that expire at midnight, and an account needs a South African mobile number. Organisers then enforce their own terms: Darley may disqualify and replace a potential winner who does not follow its rules, and the Queen's Commonwealth Writing Competition disqualifies over-length entries automatically. An order for contest votes changes none of that.
Contest voting has a rhythm of its own. The Arizona State Fair includes live audience voting on every qualifying night, and the Ernie Ball contest measures online activity throughout its contest period. A count that builds across the window, from separate voters, matches that rhythm. None of this is a method for passing an organiser's checks, and an organiser can still disqualify an entry it doubts.
In the United States, the FTC says a real sweepstakes is free and decided by chance, and that a skills contest can ask you to pay to play. Canada's Competition Bureau says a purchase requirement should be prominently disclosed. Those rules govern entry to a sweepstakes or promotion, and whether paying for votes in a contest is lawful where you live is a question for a lawyer. No order is taken for a sweepstakes or other chance draw, for a political ballot, or for a contest whose rules bar outside votes.
The part of an order that never reaches the contest's own count is refunded once the organiser's voting has closed. America's Favorite Pet calls its dates approximate and lets its operator extend deadlines, so that moment is the organiser's to set. A result, a disqualification and a voided vote are never refunded. At IODC, public votes and engagement do not by themselves decide the winners, and no refund changes how a contest weighs them.