Last Minute Hitch

Xavier has barricaded himself in his rooms like some sort of crab and is refusing to come out! And this with only a few hours to go till the Undersea Extravaganza!
He has a veritable addiction to painting competitions. He keeps entering his works and they keep getting rejected with all the accompanying angst and bother. Well yesterday he had another such rejection letter.
'Thank you for your interest in this award. Unfortunately (the most detested word in Xavier's vocabulary) your painting has not been selected...' and so forth.
I can not rationalize it with him. He is inconsolable.
Hugo keeps calling me to confirm our participation and asking me when we are coming in to set up! How shall I extricate Xavier from his funk?