Competition in the world of art

One day, I asked my Bengali literature teacher about something I've been thinking about. We hear a lot of announcements of olympics or competitions related to science, but how come we hardly hear anything about competitions that are related to literature? 

His answer was that literature is not something that requires competition. Do you think you can really judge a work of literature? 

I agreed with him.

The world of art is less about structure and strict rules and more about freedom, creativity, and uniqueness. Art reflects one's soul, heart and vision. And whether a work of art is beautiful or ugly, it depends solely on the eye of the viewers. It varies from person to person. The same work can make one person cry and seem boring to another. The same artist can be loved by one but hated by another. Some people find abstract art fascinating when a lot of people don’t even understand it. A large number of people like simplicity when some others are fans of complex works. It doesn’t make an art piece either less beautiful or less artistic. Behind every work of art, there are behind-the-scene stories. Stories of excitement and disappointment, laughter and tears, sleep deprivation. Those stories matter. 

Behind the word 'competition', there lies 'superiority' and 'inferiority'. The one who wins in a competition and the one who doesn’t, there is automatically a comparison. The one who participated in a competition but didn’t get any recognition may think their work is not good enough, when it’s not always the case. It puts a restriction and strain on creativity. The judges are human too, while one judge votes for one work, the other may like another one. Who's right and who's wrong? Can you really tell one's work is 'better' based on some rules, structure or the ability to impress the judges? 

I personally believe that the audiences are the greatest of all judges. When an artist can move someone's heart or make someone think about their work, if they can make their audience laugh, cry or feel all sort of emotions, then that's where an artist's success lies. Even if it’s just one person, that should be enough. Because artists want to communicate their feelings through their works. Their fans are their power. At the end of the day, awards are mere recognition. The number of awards received don't define an artist. There are lots of underrated, unnoticed artists who are immensely loved by their small fanbase.

Art is not about being better than someone else. Art is about being yourself, showing a glimpse of what a beautiful mess we are. Art is not about winning awards but winning hearts.