{"id":33133,"date":"2021-05-12T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/about.35.197.208.187.nip.io\/?p=33133"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:14:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:14:36","slug":"celebrating-our-tenth-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zealous.co\/about\/news\/celebrating-our-tenth-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating our 10th Anniversary!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Celebrating you<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Lanre Malaolu<\/a>\u00a0performing at the Emerge Awards (2018)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The community has always been at the very heart of why I founded Zealous, so it\u2019s only right to use our anniversary to celebrate you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the team discussed how to do so, the word \u201cEmerge<\/a>\u201d floated about the room a lot. With COVID floating about the room a lot as well, we thought the better of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So instead, we decided to focus on keeping things simple (for now) and put our resources and knowledge into equally impactful, but more immediate changes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Increasing the prizes of Zealous Stories<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Image featuring prints by Stories winner\u00a0Rebecca Carrington<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our monthly Zealous Stories competition will continue to get your work in front of exciting judges, celebrate your story and, where possible, compliment the offering with feedback on your portfolio. We\u2019re thrilled to say that during our anniversary year, we are increasing the cash prize from \u00a3100 to \u00a3250<\/strong>, starting from this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know this time has been challenging and hope the extra money will help<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Publishing a decade of insights<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Zealous Meetup (2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having hosted hundreds of opportunities, we\u2019ve learned valuable lessons on how to manage successful open calls. Instead of sitting on that goldmine of knowledge, we\u2019ve decided to get the pickaxe out and share it with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ultimate guide to taking submissions<\/a> is a series of easily digested articles to support you from the moment an idea pops into your head, to the moment you measure the impact of your programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each section, you\u2019ll find steps to keep your call inclusive<\/strong>, run a successful programme despite the pandemic<\/strong> and suggestions on how Zealous can help you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sharing your news<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAs we are\u201d by\u00a0Tiu Makkonen<\/a>\u00a0at Zealous X (2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re an artist with exciting news, or an arts organisation supporting creators, we never cease to be inspired by your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that reason, we have now included a community section in our monthly newsletter<\/a> to share your news with thousands of creators and creative organisations for free<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can submit your events, open calls, celebrations, calls for collaborators, jobs, etc., to our monthly newsletter by filling out this form<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Transforming our platform<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Concept for Zealous portfolio (2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our platform has been evolving ever since my first deployment from a coffee shop in November 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What started as a blog publishing artists works, became a portfolio site, and then based on the communities feedback asking for more opportunities, has morphed into the UK\u2019s best creative submissions platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again we\u2019ve listened to your feedback and we\u2019ve planned to completely revamp portfolios, introduce comments and ensure accessibility is reviewed across the entire platform. For a list of upcoming changes, you can explore our roadmap here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The next decade<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Fetching infographic mapping our 10 year startegy (2012)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I first planned Zealous a decade ago, I created this fetching infographic charting our path in the next ten years (infographics were very trendy back then, so were long flowing locks and a beard, but we won\u2019t go there).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We haven\u2019t always followed the path we chartered, but the purpose to support the creative ecosystem still burns brightly. The last decade hasn\u2019t always been easy, but it has always been worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next decade won\u2019t be any different, we will chart a path towards helping you flourish in your craft and aim to be as agile as we can to allow us to serve you better. And hopefully, meet more of you in the real world as we go!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Thank you!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Our amazing team who makes everything we do possible (2021)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Major milestones are also the time to reflect on who has made this journey possible and thank them \u2013 so thank you to our team (past and present) who have all added their own bricks to our house of creativity, our investors who make sure we have the tools to do so and of course you, for making the building worth it (and reading to the end of this long article!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for joining us on our journey<\/strong>. It has been an honour to serve you, and we can\u2019t wait to see what the next ten years hold!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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