OK, here's a reply I got from the UF list.

Every four years the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM)

meets to discuss mathematics and to present Fields medals. For the 2006
ICM, which is being held in Madrid in August, new events are being
added, including a fractal art exhibit. The purpose of the ICM 2006
Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest is to select some of the artwork
for display in this exhibit. Other artwork to be included in the
exhibition will be from invited artists. These rules do not cover the
invitation process, only the contest.

You might want to especially note the final two sentences of that
paragraph since therein lies the answer to your question.

 

OK but the selection panel 'invited' themselves and, as a matter of principle, I think this is very wrong.  Are there any 'invited' entries from anyone who isn't on the panel?

We don't cease to play because we grow old, we grow old because we cease to play.