Your art. A MAD Forthren T-shirt.

Entries open November 2, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time (UTC−9).

Enter the MAD Forthren Design Contest with an original design made to be worn. One winning design will be selected by skill, offered in our shop, and earn its creator 10% of its Design Profit for 12 months after the product launches.

Free to enter. No purchase necessary. Buying from us, following us, posting about us or joining a mailing list will not help your entry win.

Quick links:

• How to enter
• What the winner receives
• Official Rules

The brief

Create a distinctive, original front-of-shirt design that expresses individuality and works as wearable art for MAD Forthren. It should be readable and visually effective on a T-shirt, not just on a screen. You may use the words “MAD Forthren” for this submission; you do not have to include them. Do not use other brands, game characters, celebrity likenesses, stock artwork or generative-AI artwork.

What the winner receives

• Their winning design featured on the Comfort Colors 1717 adult T-shirt, initially in sizes S–XL at madforthren.com.
• Artist credit using their chosen public artist name.
• 10% of Design Profit, calculated before the artist’s royalty, on eligible sales of that design during the 12-month selling term.
• Monthly sales and cost statements, with payments due within 45 days after each month ends.

This is not 10% of sales or of the whole shop’s profit. There is no guaranteed cash prize, minimum number of sales or minimum earnings. Earnings can be $0. Design Profit means eligible collected product and allocated shipping receipts, after discounts, refunds and chargebacks, less the documented direct production, fulfillment, shipping and transaction costs described in the rules. We do not deduct advertising, general overhead, owner pay, samples or unrelated products’ losses.

Illustration only: If eligible receipts are $30 and allowed direct costs are $22, Design Profit is $8 and the creator’s royalty is $0.80. If Design Profit is zero or negative, no royalty is earned for that amount. These numbers are not our actual costs or a sales forecast.

How to enter

Email MADSUPPORT@madforthren.com with the subject MAD Forthren Design Contest — [Your artist name] by December 2, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time (AKST, UTC−9; 18:00 UTC). Attach one JPG or PNG preview, no more than 10 MB, and include:

1. Your legal name, chosen public artist name, contact email and state of residence.
2. The design title and a short explanation of your concept, up to 100 words.
3. This statement: “I meet the age and residency requirements, created and own this design, and agree to the Official Rules at https://madforthren.com/pages/design-contest#official-rules, including the limited rights needed to judge my entry and the contest privacy notice. I understand that earnings are not guaranteed.”

Do not send a Social Security number, identity document, bank information or tax form with your entry. Do not send ZIP archives, executables, SVGs, PDFs, office documents, password-protected files or links requiring us to log in or install software. Keep your original/source file; we request it only if you are selected. One entry per person; you may replace your entry before the deadline by clearly identifying the replacement.

How we choose

Entries are judged on originality (35%), fit with the brief (30%), print readiness (25%) and visual composition (10%). No public vote or random drawing is used. One winner will be chosen from eligible entries, subject to the verification and acceptance rules below. Full selection and tie-breaking rules are below.

Eligibility: residents of the 50 United States and Washington, D.C., who are at least 18 and have reached the age of majority in their state. Other exclusions apply.

Entry period: November 2, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time (AKST, UTC−9; 18:00 UTC) through December 2, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time (AKST, UTC−9; 18:00 UTC).

Read the Official Rules and Contest Privacy Notice below before entering. Questions: MADSUPPORT@madforthren.com.

Official Rules

1. Sponsor and contest period

The sponsor is Matthew Donlon, operating as MAD Forthren, operating the shop at madforthren.com, 291 East Park Ave, Wasilla, AK 99654 (“Sponsor”). Contact: MADSUPPORT@madforthren.com.

Entries open November 2, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time (AKST, UTC−9; 18:00 UTC) and must reach Sponsor’s inbox by December 2, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time (AKST, UTC−9; 18:00 UTC). All stated times include the applicable Alaska time designation and UTC offset. Sponsor’s received-email timestamp controls. This is a skill-based design contest, not a random drawing. No purchase or payment is required to enter, be selected or receive the award. A purchase provides no advantage. Void where prohibited.

2. Eligibility

Entrants must be individual legal residents of one of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, at least 18 years old and at or above the age of majority in their state when they enter. Employees, judges, people involved in administering this contest, their immediate family members and people in their households may not enter. For this rule, immediate family means spouse or partner, parent, child, sibling and their spouses or partners. No team or business entries. One entry, containing one design, per person across all channels. Misrepresenting eligibility or using multiple identities may result in disqualification.

3. Free entry and design requirements

Submit by the email method and with the information stated on the contest page. A social-media post, Pin/save, purchase, follow, share, customer review, marketing subscription or payment is not required and is not considered in judging. Saving a specific image is never required; saves, follows and shares do not create additional entries. Do not send physical items. No entry fee or claim fee is charged.

The design must be the entrant’s original, human-created work and capable of being reproduced on the specified T-shirt using the production-quality file described below. Existing personal artwork is allowed if the entrant owns the necessary rights and has not granted conflicting rights. Generative-AI artwork, stock art, copied work, third-party trademarks, protected characters, celebrity likenesses and unauthorized personal information are not allowed. Fonts or other permitted technical components must have licenses allowing this merchandising use, with evidence available on request. A standard digital drawing or layout tool is allowed. Entries must not contain unlawful, hateful or sexually explicit material.

Entrants may use the words “MAD Forthren” solely to create and submit this contest entry. This permission does not authorize selling MAD Forthren merchandise or suggesting any other endorsement. Each entrant must be able to supply a production-quality original file at the intended print size, plus reasonable evidence of authorship or licenses if selected. Routine print-preparation assistance does not improve the entrant’s judging score after the deadline.

An entrant may withdraw or replace an entry by email before closing. The latest clearly labeled complete replacement received on time is judged. Sponsor will acknowledge complete entries by email. If acknowledgment does not arrive, the entrant should contact the same email before closing; delivery is not guaranteed merely because an email was sent. An acknowledgment confirms receipt, not eligibility or selection. Sponsor may correct administrative or accessibility problems consistently without changing the scoring criteria or favoring an entrant.

4. Judging and selection

MAD Forthren owner Matthew Donlon will judge eligible entries against the same 100-point rubric:

The highest-scoring eligible design is selected. If scores tie, the higher originality score prevails, then the higher print-readiness score, then the higher brief-fit score. If still tied, the judge makes and records a head-to-head artistic-merit comparison under those same criteria, prioritizing originality and print readiness. No coin toss, random drawing, popularity vote, sales total or social audience size will be used.

Sponsor will preserve the scoring record. A conflicted judge must not score an affected entry; that entry must be assessed by a disclosed, conflict-free replacement judge under the same rubric before a result is announced. One winner is intended. No award will be made if there are no eligible entries or neither the selected entrant nor either of up to two alternates can be verified and accept under the stated process. There is no numerical “odds of winning” claim; selection depends on the number and merit of eligible entries.

The selected entrant will be notified by email no later than December 16, 2026, and has seven calendar days to reply and complete eligibility, authorship and file verification and sign the limited license described below. The license may not add a broader copyright transfer or reduce these published economics. If the entrant declines, is ineligible, cannot provide the required rights/files, or does not reply after a reminder and the seven-day deadline, the next highest eligible entry may be selected. Each alternate receives the same seven-calendar-day response period; no more than two alternates will be contacted. The final result, or a notice that no award could be made under these rules, will be posted by January 13, 2027. No entrant pays a fee to claim an award.

5. Award and selling term

One verified winner receives artist credit, the inclusion of the winning design on the Comfort Colors 1717 adult T-shirt, initially in sizes S–XL in the MAD Forthren online shop, and the royalty below. Size and color variants of that style are included. Other product types, storefronts or uses require the artist’s separate written approval and agreed economics.

Sponsor will launch the product within 60 calendar days after acceptance of the award and completion of the disclosed verification/license process. The winning design must be feasible on the specified blank; its final print placement, available colors and production file will be confirmed with the artist before launch. This contest does not license any existing MAD Forthren product artwork to entrants. The selling term lasts 12 calendar months from the first date customers can order the product. Sponsor will document the launch and end dates for the artist. If Sponsor cannot launch within 60 days, it must explain the reason; absent the artist’s written agreement to a specific extension, the commercial license expires and no artwork may be sold under it.

Sponsor will make a good-faith effort to keep the product available during the term, subject to legal, safety, supplier and production limitations. Sponsor does not guarantee stock, traffic, marketing expenditure, sales, financial profit or earnings. Sponsor may not transfer sales to an unreported channel or use artificial charges or transactions to avoid paying the royalty. There is no guaranteed cash minimum; the monetary award is variable and can be $0. Its future value cannot be determined before sales occur. Selection gives no ownership stake in MAD Forthren.

6. The 10% Design Profit royalty

“Design Profit” is a contractual, design-specific direct-profit measure before deducting the artist’s royalty. It is not Sponsor’s company-wide accounting net profit.

For all eligible sales during the term, calculate cumulative Design Profit as:

Eligible receipts (collected product revenue plus allocated customer shipping revenue, already net of discounts, refunds and chargebacks) − allowed direct costs.

• Count only genuine paid sales of the winning design through the specified shop. Do not count unpaid or test orders as paid sales. Canceled orders have no retained product revenue; refunds and any allowed costs already incurred follow the adjustment rules below. Use the actual discounted amount collected; do not subtract the same discount again. Refunded revenue and chargebacks are removed once, not twice. Gift-card redemption counts as payment for the product; gift-card issuance is not a design sale.
• Exclude collected sales taxes and separately collected duties from both revenue and costs. Use U.S. dollars and the payment processor’s actual conversion for any supported foreign-currency receipt.
• Deduct only documented third-party costs actually incurred for these sales: the blank garment, printing, normal packaging and POD fulfillment; actual shipping and applicable nonrecoverable import costs paid by Sponsor; actual payment-processing and per-order commerce transaction fees; and unreimbursed direct production/shipping costs of related customer returns or replacements. Reduce costs by related supplier credits, reimbursements or insurance recoveries. Each cost may be deducted only once.
• Do not deduct advertising, affiliate or influencer commissions, general overhead, subscription/app/platform fixed fees, wages, owner compensation, rent, income taxes, legal/accounting expenses, contest administration, design preparation, samples, promotional giveaways, fines, chargeback penalties, unrelated products’ costs or losses, or this royalty itself. A giveaway’s costs cannot reduce the artist’s royalty base.
• Allocate mixed-order discounts, customer shipping receipts, shared shipping costs and order-level transaction fees by each item’s share of the order’s product subtotal before discounts and taxes. Directly identifiable product costs stay with that product. Record the allocation by order, product line and unit quantity, with the underlying invoice/payment reference, and retain it with the statement. Bundle allocations use the products’ ordinary standalone unit prices at the time of sale, not a discretionary amount assigned to this design.
• For a partial return, apply the actual product refund to the affected line and units. Apply a specifically identified shipping refund to the affected item; otherwise use the original order allocation. Do not recalculate original shared-cost weights after a return in a way that shifts another item’s costs or losses to this design. Unrecovered allowed production/shipping costs stay with the original affected item. A supplier reimbursement or eligible transaction-fee refund is a cost credit, recorded once; customer refund/chargeback principal reduces receipts once. A separate fee is not principal and is deductible only if it falls within the allowed direct-cost categories above; punitive chargeback penalties remain excluded.
• Later product refunds and actual eligible cost adjustments revise this same design’s cumulative profit. No loss from another design or business activity is carried into this calculation.

At each settlement, cumulative royalty entitlement is 10% × max(0, cumulative Design Profit). Round cumulative entitlement to the nearest cent, with half cents rounded up. The amount payable is max(0, cumulative royalty entitlement − royalties already paid). Deduct prior royalties actually paid only once. If entitlement is less than prior payments, the difference is an informational recovery deficit, not an amount payable by the artist. It is recovered solely through this same design’s future cumulative entitlement; do not subtract an additional carry-forward debit or treat it as a new cost. This cumulative approach prevents duplicate deductions and handles later refunds without redefining the percentage.

The artist never owes money merely because sales lose money. A later refund can reduce unpaid or future royalties from this same design, but Sponsor will not demand repayment of previously paid royalties absent fraud. At final settlement Sponsor bears any remaining ordinary overpayment. No further ordinary deductions are reopened after final settlement.

Hypothetical linked example: Cumulative Design Profit of $500 gives a $50 royalty, which is paid. A later refund and associated cost credit bring cumulative profit to $0: the current payment is $0, not a $50 bill to the artist. If cumulative profit later reaches $900, total entitlement is $90 and the next payment is $40 ($90 minus the $50 already paid). No additional $50 carry-forward deduction is made. These are illustrations, not forecasts.

7. Reporting, payments and records

The reporting cutoff is 11:59:59 p.m. Alaska local time (America/Anchorage) on the last day of each calendar month. Include eligible customer payments when captured/confirmed, not when the processor later deposits them in Sponsor’s bank, and documented allowed costs when incurred. Use the recorded transaction date for refunds and cost credits; later-posted corrections enter the next statement’s cumulative reconciliation. Match every receipt/cost to its eligible order and never count a bank payout as new product revenue. Eligible orders must have been accepted during the selling term; their fulfillment and final reconciliation remain subject to the deadlines below.

Sponsor will send a statement and any amount due within 45 days after each calendar month ends, including a zero-activity statement when appropriate. Statements show the covered product/variants, paid units, receipts, discounts, refunds/chargebacks, each allowed cost category, allocations, cumulative Design Profit, cumulative royalty entitlement, prior payments and amount due. Customer names, addresses and contact details will not be shared with the artist.

There is no minimum payout balance. Sponsor bears ordinary outbound payment fees. Payments are in U.S. dollars by a mutually agreed available method. Any legally required tax withholding is separately identified and does not change the 10% calculation. Only the selected winner supplies necessary payment/tax information, through an agreed secure method; never through a public entry form. Sponsor will provide any legally required tax reporting. The artist is responsible for their own applicable taxes.

Sponsor will retain the underlying royalty records for the applicable accounting, tax and legal retention periods. The artist may request relevant redacted supporting records and explanations; Sponsor will respond reasonably promptly. If a discrepancy remains unresolved, the parties may agree to an independent review and its costs separately. A records request does not authorize access to unrelated business or customer information. Nothing here removes any nonwaivable rights to obtain records or pursue a claim.

No new customer orders may be accepted after the selling term without a new written agreement. Orders accepted during the term may be fulfilled for up to 30 days afterward and remain royalty-bearing. Sponsor will provide a final statement and pay any remaining balance within 90 days after the selling term ends, without forfeiting a small balance.

8. Ownership and limited license

Entrants keep their copyright. Entry grants Sponsor only a nonexclusive permission to receive, store and privately review the submitted preview for contest administration. Nonwinning entries are not licensed for sale, public galleries, advertising, AI training or unrelated uses. Separate affirmative permission is required before publicly displaying a nonwinning entry.

The verified winner signs a separate agreement implementing these published terms. It grants a nonexclusive license for the stated selling term to reproduce and sell the winning design only on the specified T-shirt style through the stated shop, and to display accurate images of that product in directly related marketing. The license permits necessary worldwide manufacture/processing by identified service providers solely to fulfill this purpose; it is not a general right to sublicense or sell the artwork file. The artist retains the right to use and license their own design, excluding Sponsor’s brand assets.

Routine resizing, color-profile conversion and print-file preparation are permitted. Material artistic changes require the artist’s written approval. Public credit uses the artist’s chosen professional name. No photograph, personal story, address, broad likeness permission, copyright assignment or waiver of all moral rights is required. The winner is not required to promote the product or supply additional unrelated artwork.

After the term, Sponsor stops new sales and active promotion, subject only to fulfilling existing orders as stated above. A dated, noncommercial contest-result archive may retain a low-resolution image and chosen artist credit; no new merchandise use follows from that archive. All ungranted rights remain with the artist.

Either party may terminate the license for a material breach not cured within 30 days after written notice. Credible infringement, safety or legal concerns may require immediate suspension. Termination does not erase accrued royalties or reporting obligations; no new sales are permitted after termination. There is no automatic renewal.

9. Contest-specific privacy notice

This notice supplements the MAD Forthren Privacy Policy. For information collected solely to enter or administer this contest, the narrower uses and protections in this section apply even where the general store policy describes broader marketing or advertising uses. Entry is not consent to marketing, and agreeing to the rules is not a marketing opt-in.

Sponsor uses entry information only to receive and administer entries, judge designs, prevent fraud, verify eligibility and rights, contact entrants, announce the verified result, administer the winner’s license/royalties, resolve related disputes and meet applicable legal obligations. We do not sell contest entry information, disclose it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or automatically add entrants to marketing lists. A separate purchase or voluntary marketing subscription is a separate activity governed by its applicable notice and choices; neither is required to enter or win. Merely browsing the store may involve the general policy’s website/cookie practices, but that does not authorize marketing use of the information submitted in the contest entry email.

Access to entry records is limited to Sponsor, authorized contest administrators or judges, and service providers that need it for the stated purposes, such as email/storage and necessary winner payment, accounting, legal or fulfillment services. Share only what each provider needs. POD/manufacturing providers receive the winning artwork and only information necessary for the authorized product use; they do not receive the entrant list for marketing. No nonwinning entry is licensed for public display, sale, advertising or AI training by this contest. Separate affirmative permission is needed before publicly showing a nonwinning entry.

Sponsor retains entry information only as reasonably necessary to administer the contest, verify and document the result and rights, honor winner royalty/license obligations, resolve related disputes, and satisfy applicable legal or recordkeeping requirements. When it is no longer needed for those purposes, Sponsor will delete it or deidentify the records where appropriate. This is not a promise that all copies disappear on a fixed date. Unnecessary duplicate files and sensitive information should not be collected or retained.

Public winner announcements use the winner’s chosen artist name and approved design preview, not their legal address, tax details or payment information. Do not send a Social Security number, identity document, home street address or bank details with an entry. Only the selected winner will be asked for necessary additional verification, tax or payment information, through an agreed secure method.

Privacy questions and requests to correct, withdraw or delete entry information may be sent to MADSUPPORT@madforthren.com. Sponsor will handle requests consistently with applicable law and explain if information must be kept for an active dispute, award obligation or legal requirement. Withdrawing an entry before judging removes it from consideration; a privacy request does not by itself waive royalties already earned.

10. Integrity, interruptions and questions

Sponsor may disqualify plagiarized, fraudulent, ineligible or technically harmful entries, explaining the basis on request when reasonably possible. Sponsor will not retroactively change the royalty percentage, permitted deductions, eligible uses, judging criteria or other material terms to an entrant’s disadvantage.

If a serious technical failure, fraud, legal issue or event beyond reasonable control prevents fair administration, Sponsor may suspend the contest or make only the changes reasonably necessary to preserve fairness and legal compliance. It will post the reason and revised process at the rules URL. If cancellation is unavoidable, no submitted artwork may be commercialized through this contest and entrants retain their rights. These rules do not waive rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be waived.

The contest is sponsored by the named Sponsor, not by Shopify, a POD supplier or a social-media platform. It is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Pinterest. If the winner independently endorses the product, they should clearly disclose that they earn a royalty from its sales. Sharing is not required to enter or win.

Questions or requests for the result may be sent to MADSUPPORT@madforthren.com. Full public result information is available at https://madforthren.com/pages/design-contest#official-rules.