Society of Illustrators Competitions

CELEBRATING THE FINE ART OF CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
40TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION CALL FOR ENTRIES

ENTRY DEADLINE
Monday, July 27, 2020

William Low, Chair
Grace Lin, Assistant Chair

The Society of Illustrators invites publishers, illustrators, agents, and authors to submit books to the 40th annual exhibition of The Original Art, founded by Dilys Evans in 1980 and sponsored by the Society since 1989. A jury of outstanding artists, art directors, and editors in the field of children’s publishing will choose which books are to be represented in the show and will select gold and silver medal recipients. Jurying is anonymous, and an artist may have no more than two books accepted for the show.

ANYONE MAY SUBMIT: Publishers, illustrators, agents, and authors.
Publishers, please pass along the website link to eligible artists if you are not able to submit their work.

ELIGIBLE FOR SUBMISSION
• All entries must be published in the United States. Books printed overseas are eligible.
• Books © 2019 and 2020 and complete F&Gs © 2020 will be accepted.
• Books must be intended for children from newborn to twelve years old.
• Chapter books must have at least eight full-page illustrations.
• Books rendered in traditional and/or digital media are eligible.

NOT ELIGIBLE: Books previously entered, self-published books, photographic books, textbooks, YA books, consumable activity books, books based on licensed characters, anthologies with multiple independent illustrators.

HOW TO ENTER:Due to COVID-19, the Original Art 2020 competition entry submission process and jurying will be completely electronic this year and hosted through our competition website. Please note that you will need to create an account to enter books.

Please click the links below to review instructions for this year’s entry process:
• Instructional Walkthrough for Book Submissions Entered by an Illustrator
• Instructional Walkthrough for Book Submissions Entered by a Publisher / Artists’ Rep

For any questions or concerns regarding this new process, please feel free to email Breann (breann@societyillustrators.org) at any time for assistance.

ENTRY FEES
• $30 per title / $20 for SI members submitting work.
• Guidelines for payment are provided in the instructional walkthroughs. If you choose to pay by check, please make payable to: Society of Illustrators.

AWARDS
• Gold Medal and Silver Medals chosen by the jury.
• Lifetime Achievement Awards nominated by a blue-ribbon panel and voted on by artists juried into past shows.
• Dilys Evans Founder’s Award presented for best new talent of the year.

Awards Presentation & Special Programs: The Society will be organizing a series of virtual events celebrating this exhibition. More information to come.

Book Donations: In past years, the Society has donated submitted books to organizations dedicated to underserved communities such as New Alternatives for Children, Behind the Book, and Brooklyn Book Bodega. To expand this tradition, we will be accepting any children’s book donations throughout the year. Please send books to the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, New York, NY, 10065.

Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award 2015

The Original Art 2020

Student Scholarship Competition 2020

2020 MoCCA Arts Festival Awards of Excellence

Come back for 2021

The Original Art 2020