The fifth edition of the Likewater NFT Art Award is now accepting submissions, centering this year’s program on “Generation 2.0”. Organizers are inviting creators worldwide to use NFTs as a medium to respond to how generative AI is reshaping ideas of truth, creativity, and authorship. The submission window remains open until June 30, 2026.
A theme built around authorship and truth in the AI era
The award is jointly organized by the Taiwan Tech Art Association and akaSwap, with ongoing cooperation from the Taiwan Creative Content Agency. Since its launch in 2022, the program has developed into a notable NFT art competition platform in Asia, encouraging creators to explore digital art through blockchain technology. Earlier editions addressed subjects such as peace and sustainability, observations from daily life, collective creation, and memory and time. This year, the attention shifts squarely to the pressure generative AI is putting on accepted definitions of artistic creation.
The organizers frame the question in direct terms: if faces, melodies, texts, or buildings can all be generated, what still counts as real, and who can still be called the author. That tension sits at the center of this edition. The call for entries is not limited to technical experimentation alone; it is also aimed at works that take a position on the fracture opening between machine output and human expression.
Open media rules allow works minted through akaSwap
No media restrictions have been set for this year’s award. Traditional painting, illustration, photography, digital art, interactive art, generative art, and AI-based works are all eligible, as long as they are minted as NFTs through the akaSwap platform for submission. The organizers say this open structure is meant to encourage artists to move across technical and material boundaries rather than stay within one established format.
The event will also continue its Annual NFT Project Award. That program begins with community nominations and then moves to selection by the award’s professional judging panel. By including a separate track for projects, the organizers are widening the scope beyond individual artworks and placing part of the spotlight on collaborative activity and experimentation within Web3 and blockchain communities over the past year.
Special award includes 1000 Tezos and 1000 akaDAO
The partnership with the Taiwan Creative Content Agency also continues through the Special Award, described as the top prize of this edition for NFT works with market-facing potential. According to the announcement, the winner will receive 1000 Tezos and 1000 akaDAO. Organizers say the award is intended to support artists exploring new forms of expression emerging from the intersection of Web3, blockchain, and generative AI.
The fifth Likewater NFT Art Award’s ceremony and exhibition are scheduled for August 2026, with final details to be announced later. Selected and winning works will be exhibited at that time. Public information attached to the announcement also notes that akaSwap, founded in 2021, is an NFT creation and trading platform built on the Tezos blockchain. Supporting organizations for this edition include Quanta Research Institute, the Institute of Information Science and Innovation Research Center under Academia Sinica, the Taiwan Association for Technology and Art Education, the Taiwan Metaverse Association, c2x3, TZ APAC, Volume DAO, FAB DAO, and MaiCoin Group.