About the Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition
The Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition is an international illustration contest held annually as part of the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF), with the support of the Shanghai Press and Publication Administration. Since its creation in 2015, the competition has been providing a venue for emerging illustrators to showcase their talent. It aims to build bridges between them and children's publishers, both locally and globally. In so doing it has given fresh life to China's children's book industry. The Golden Pinwheel is not merely a standalone competition—it is a comprehensive programme which includes exhibitions, an illustrated yearbook and a variety of promotional campaigns.
Since 2023, the organising committee has launched a new category—Commercial, in addition to the original submission category—Book Publishing, so as to encourage illustrators to demonstrate their commercial value through diversified forms of artistic expression, and to promote communication and cooperation with brands and advertisers.
In order to give recognition to the most talented artists in the competition, the Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition offers a wide array of awards: Grand Award (China), Grand Award (International), Special Mentions and People's Choice Award. All finalists and winners will be featured in CCBF Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition Yearbook, which will also be presented at the Golden Pinwheel Illustration Exhibition held at CCBF. Beyond that, one of the award-winners will be chosen by the CCBF Organising Committee to design the key visual of the next edition of the book fair.
In the last edition, the competition received a record-high number of 13,508 artworks created by 2,582 artists from 79 countries and territories.
Eligibility
1) To compete, illustrators must be between 16 and 39 years of age (born between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 2008).
2）Regardless of nationality, professional illustrators, art school students, and other illustration enthusiasts may all enter the competition free of charge.
3）Entries may be sent by individual artists, advertisers, schools, associations and other third-party organisations. The above third-party organisations shall be authorised by the illustrators themselves.
4）Publishing houses who wish to enter artworks on behalf of an illustrator are allowed to submit only artworks selected from an original title from their own catalogue.
Categories and Entry Requirements
The Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition has two categories: Book Publishing and Commercial. Participants can choose to participate in either category, or participate in both categories at the same time, but only one work can be submitted for each category.
The competition does not accept any work created or modified by AI (artificial intelligence).
Illustrations previously submitted to the Golden Pinwheel are not eligible for re-entry.
Book Publishing
1) There are no limits to the entry theme and content provided that is it suitable for children’s book illustration.
2) The competition accepts works created manually, digitally or by mixed techniques.
Requirements
1) A participant must submit five illustrations on the same theme. The artworks must be accompanied by an explanatory text in English (up to 500 signs) that describes their work and the tools/techniques used in its creation.
2) The illustrations submitted shall be unaccompanied by any text, unless the text is an integral element of the illustration.
3）For all published works, the illustrations shall not have been published before 1 January 2022 (according to the copyright page of the book). The ISBN number, the name of the publishing house, the country and the first publication date must be filled in the work information page.
Commercial
The entry shall be a case of illustrations used in commercial application.
Requirements
1) A participant can submit up to five images, which must include: 1. Original illustrations, accompanied by descriptions on the tools/techniques used in its creation; 2. Images of commercial application, which can be either actual product presentations or renderings/conceptual images of the application.
2) A participant can also submit PowerPoint presentation slides and/or video files as supplementary explanations for their entry.
3) For all commissioned works, the commissioner, design/advertising agency (if any), and participant’s agency or artist representative (if any) must be indicated.
Submission Procedure
The only official channel for registration and submission is the CCBF official website www.ccbookfair.com. Please fill in the registration form and submit your work online. All hand-drawn illustrations must be scanned in high-definition.
Entries must meet the following criteria:
- Format: JPG or PNG
- Size: less than 20MB for each image
- Resolution: 300 DPI or above
- PowerPoint presentation slides: size less than 50MB
- Video: format acceptable for MP4, MPEG, AVI, MOV, MPG, and size less than 500MB
Submission Deadline
11 June 2024, 23:59 (GMT+8)
Competition Schedule
Entry submissions: 29 March–11 June 2024
Finalists announcement: 5 September 2024
Award-winners announcement: 15-17 November 2024
Awards
Book Publishing
Grand Award (China)
One winner from Mainland China
· An invitation to the next edition of Bologna Children’s Book Fair, including round-trip flight in economy class and accommodation fully covered by the event organiser
· Trophy and certificate
Grand Award (International)
One winner among this category finalists from other countries and territories
· An invitation to the next edition of China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair, with round-trip flight in economy class and accommodation fully covered by the event organiser
· Trophy and certificate
Special Mentions
Three recipients
· Certificate
People’s Choice Award
One winner
· Trophy and certificate
Commercial
Grand Award
One winner
· A commercial contract worth CNY 5,000 (tax included) for CCBF derivative products
· Trophy and certificate
Special Mentions
Three recipients
· Certificate
For inquiries regarding submissions, reception, exhibitions and awards:
ccbf.goldenpinwheel@bfchina.net
Business sponsorships, advertisement, promotion and other partnerships:
Nina Liu
nina.liu@bfchina.net
