For 66 years, Communication Arts has honored the craft of talented illustrators from around the world. In support of these hardworking artists, we will not be accepting AI text-to-image generated submissions in our Illustration competition.
Introduce your work to the world. Enter the most prestigious competition for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Any illustration first published or produced from January 2024 through January 2025 is eligible. Selected by an international jury of distinguished designers, art directors and illustrators, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual, in print and digital editions, and on commarts.com, assuring important exposure to the creators of this outstanding work. As a service to art directors, designers and art buyers, a comprehensive index will carry contact information of the illustrators represented.
Each winning entrant will receive a personalized Award of Excellence, milled from solid aluminum, and award certificates issued for firms, individuals and clients.
CA’s Award of Excellence is one of the most-coveted awards in the industry. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.
What to Enter: Information on eligibility, categories and fees.
How to Enter: Information on preparation of entries and forms.
Illustration Competition FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions about applications and file formats.
Student Category FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions about submitting student entries.View Previous Winners
What To Enter
Any illustration first published or produced from January 2024 through January 2025 is eligible. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are very important to the judges. Submission of entries acknowledges the right of Communication Arts to use them for publication and exhibition.
Illustration Competition Categories:
These categories are judged by the Illustration jury and will appear in the Illustration Annual. For a list of fees, please download the category PDF:
Advertising: ads, posters, music and product packaging, etc.
Books: covers, jackets, interiors, etc.
Editorial: consumer or trade magazines, newspapers, etc.
For Sale: posters, prints, greeting cards, licensing/stock, gallery sale, online store, etc.
Institutional: company/association publications, annual reports, catalogs, client websites, blogs, etc.
Motion/Animation: time-based media for film, television, video or web, etc.
Self-Promotion: promotion for illustrators, design firms, ad agencies, art schools, printers, paper companies, etc.
Unpublished: experimental/personal work not published.
Student Work: illustration or animation created for school assignments.
How to Enter
All competition entries are processed through our online competition system.
Before you begin the process of entering a competition, please have the following information and materials ready. This will make the process go quickly:
• Your contact information for registration and notification.
• Title and basic credits for each project.
• Digital files of work you want to submit. See below for file specs.
Entries can be submitted in the following formats. To see which file types are accepted in each category, please download the Category PDF.
Digital Images: Must be RGB in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2MB.
Motion/Animation Entries: Must be in MOV, MP4, MPG or GIF format, with a maximum file size of 500MB.
All entrants grant Communication Arts the right to reproduce work selected in the Illustration Competition on the Communication Arts website and in materials used to promote the magazine, the competition and/or future related promotions.
Entry fees
Entry fee for single illustration starts from $40 and for series of illustration starts from $80.
Any single illustration or animation project created fora school assignment starts from $20.
Entries registered after 10th January 2025 require a late fee of $10 per entry.
Late Fees
Entries must be registered no later than Midnight (Pacific Time), January 10, 2025. Entries registered after that date require a late fee of $10 per entry. No entries can be registered after January 24, 2025.
Each illustration is a single entry. Campaigns or series are limited to five illustrations and must be created for the same project.
Website link: https://www.commarts.com/competition/2025-illustration
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