When we launched ArtStation, we created the Picks wall as a way to curate the homepage with awesome art. As we grew, we added the Trending wall so that the homepage can have art curated by the community instead. As the Trending algorithm improved over time, we no longer had the need to keep the Picks. However, we kept it around as a legacy feature because people liked it. The picks wall is essentially staff picking artwork at our discretion. This is something that is not scalable and we never meant it to feel like it was an award. To us, in some respects, it was not fair to many great artists who never had the chance to be picked, because there was just too much art to look through.
For that reason, we have decided to retire the Picks Wall. In doing so, we hope to remove some bias and give more curating power to the community.