Quo Vadis?

The theme

Imagine a future world you would actually want to live in — a city, a village, a space habitat, an ocean world, a solarpunk settlement, a strange AI/human world, sacred technology, restored nature, post-scarcity life, a community scene, a symbolic future. Entries should make people feel the future can be beautiful, humane, strange, specific, and worth building.

Hopeful does not mean naive. Struggle, ruins, scars, and rebuilding are allowed if the overall vision is ultimately life-giving and worth living in. Avoid both generic utopia and default dystopia — the strongest entries feel emotionally specific: a world someone could imagine choosing, protecting, rebuilding, or walking toward.

How to enter

One official entry per participant, posted in the contest forum on the Qhantom Discord. Any medium — but every entry needs a visual artifact so it can be displayed, voted on, and hung in the gallery:

Review the Official Rules before posting your entry.

Optional supporting material is welcome — longer descriptions, music, playable prototypes, writing excerpts, process videos, portfolio links. Strong process shares may be pinned in Discord, and one earns the $100 USD Best Process Share prize.

One open category

There are no separate AI vs. human divisions. Traditional, digital, 3D, photography, collage, AI-assisted, AI-generated, animation, mixed media, and experimental formats all compete under the same prompt. Include a lightweight medium/workflow label with your entry; detailed tools, prompts, and process notes are optional but encouraged. The audience decides what resonates.

Voting & prizes

No voting while submissions are open — every world goes voteable at the same moment, so early entries get no timing advantage.

1. 01

   Submission window

   Post your official entry in the Discord contest forum. Comments and process discussion are welcome; no official voting happens while submissions are open.

2. 02

   Eligibility review

   After the deadline, Qhantom reviews entries and removes anything invalid, plagiarized, NSFW, or otherwise against the rules.

3. 03

   Round 1 — Discord

   All valid entries become voteable at the same time. Up to 5 votes per person; the 16 highest valid vote totals advance. If 16 or fewer entries are eligible, all advance.

4. 04

   Round 2 — Discord

   Semifinalists only. Up to 3 votes per person; the top 4 finalists advance.

5. 05

   The final — X poll

   The 4 finalists are posted publicly on X, and a native poll provisionally selects the $1,000 USD Grand Prize recipient, subject to verification.

Best Process Share is judged on clarity and usefulness, evidence of iteration or problem-solving, connection between process and the final world, and insight for other creators. Full weighting is published in the Official Rules.

Qhantom may also award optional non-cash honorable mentions — Most Livable Future, Most Beautiful Future, Most Original World, Best Human/AI Collaboration, Weirdest Beautiful Future, Most Hopeful Future.

Schedule

Your art remains yours

Artists keep ownership of their work. By entering, you allow Qhantom to share and display your submission with credit for contest-related promotion and gallery purposes — Discord, X, the website gallery, finalist and winner announcements, and contest recaps. Qhantom will not sell, claim, merchandise, use as official branding, or commercially reuse your artwork without separate permission.

Every valid entry hangs in the Field

The website gallery isn't only for winners: every valid submission becomes a floating world in the 3D Futures Field, credited, with your title and description. Finalists and the winner earn gold. Right now the field hangs blank canvases — one of them is waiting for your world.