This New ArtPrize: Good for Artists, Good for the Public

I am delighted with the concept. I would want to enter but I must warn everyone that there is a sentence in the rules (as of 4/29) that will stop me and many artists that I know:

"ArtPrize will have all rights to copy, edit, broadcast, publish and use, in whole or in part, any Work in any manner without further compensation (unless prohibited by law)."

that would give them the right to take any work that's entered in the show and change it, and/or sell copies of it, sell posters of it, even make it into an advertisement for a corporation.

In 2008 we (BECA gallery - Bridge for Emerging Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA) held our first installment of CURATE THIS! with over 100 artists and over 400 'guest curators' from 9 countries participating. It was an eye opening experience for everyone, especially those who were voting since most of them had never been offered the opportunity to select works to place within someone else's space. We had great feedback and have issued a call for the second installment of CURATE THIS! 2009. Info. posted at: http://www.thebecafoundation.org/global/calls-to-artists.html (scroll down to the second Call listed).

My only qualm with this prize is the requirement that artists pay a fee of $50 to enter their work in the competition. That makes it more like a lottery, or think of it as a tax on individual artists (who pay for the privilege of being rejected), than an actual prize.

I'm curious about what seems to be a trend of allowing public input into the art selection process. There was this recent article on artdaily (http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=30380) dicussing "The Big Art Project" in which 7 towns around the UK got to pick their own art. What do you think of this trend? I've heard rumours that this is being considered in San Francisco too. Is this the democracy of the web at work?