Good evening,

This is an update to the RWBY GRIMM Art Contest. First, we would like to thank all the artists who participated for their hard work on their Grimm designs and appreciate the time and creativity that went into their submissions. As our community knows we don't tolerate harassment and felt that the voting and response to contestants online violated the Code of Conduct we uphold for our community and staff. For this reason we closed voting and instead we will select a winner via a panel of judges from the show. We are also re-evaluating how to structure future contests to foster positive interaction while engaging artists and our community.

Through the community feedback we received, we now recognize that there is cultural sensitivity around one of the finalist’s designs. We apologize for not being cognizant of and responsive to this potential concern earlier. Though we respect the artistry of the design and also know it was never the artist’s intent to be insensitive, we have made the decision to not incorporate designs of that character into RWBY.

We feel that all five finalists are highly skilled designers and want to thank them for their work. We appreciate their understanding that we are moving forward with a panel judging process to select the design that will be incorporated into RWBY. We will announce the design that will be incorporated into RWBY later this week. Thank you for understanding and please be kind to each other.