The stArt Award is an international competition for up-and-coming illustrators. Through the years this illustration contest attracted competitors from 24 countries! It has resulted in a unique, international collection of illustrations. The theme of the fourteenth edition of the stArt Award is Pinocchio.
By participating the stArt Award you will be competing to have your work published in BoekieBoekie. The work of the stArt Award winner and 10 nominees will be published in several publications and on social media. The assignment is to make a series of illustrations for one or more stories written specifically for BoekieBoekie. The typography of these stories can help you to get inspired; it also shows you how much space there is for the illustrations. You may also choose among one or more free creative assignments, such as developing a board game or creating a book cover. What you can do too is to illustrate one of your favourite passages from the original Pinocchio story.
All in all, you have to provide a minimum of 5 illustrations, which you present as a mini-edition of BoekieBoekie. Give your career a boost and join the stArt Award!
If you are working as a professional illustrator more than 5 years, you are not considered a debutant and are not eligible to enter the competition.
Joining the stArt Award can give your career as illustrator a boost. The assignments are a source of inspiration and will show you another way to approach your work.
If you’re the winner or one of the nominees your illustration will be published in the publications of BoekieBoekie and / or be promoted on social media and presented at international book fairs and festivals .
Step 1:
Register in the webshop.
Step 2:
Fill in the application form.
Step 3:
You will receive 2 PDF-files by mail with all the information you need.
Yes, to join the stArt Award you have to pay a registration fee.
In the webshop you will find the exact entry costs.
With the benefits we can organize this competition for up-and-coming illustrators and promote their work.
The artwork of the winners and the nominees will get a place of honor in the BoekieBoekie annual and will receive a certificate.
The stArt Award winner will receive € 750 and the winner of the children’s jury € 500.
You have to provide a minimum of 5 illustrations, which you present as a mini-edition of BoekieBoekie.
After registration you will receive two PDF-files: one with the texts to illustrate and one with pratical information & inspiration.
If you are one of the nominees your artwork will be published in the next edition of BoekieBoekie. This means that your illustrations have to be print proof. Keep this instruction in mind, while making your artwork.
This guideline is especially made for BoekieBoekie by Marc Gijzen (digital lithographer*). If you work for another publisher, please ask for their guideline beforehand. That might save you a lot of time.
Start
Please use a professional scanner only and not your phone.
That what you see on your computer screen is not the same as an illustration in print.
There can be a big difference between your original or digital illustration and the printed version.
Do not forget to calibrate your computer screen.
Illustration format
- PSD or TIFF (Separate in layers if your artwork is a combination of text and image.)
Image format
- Resolution 300 dpi on used image format / output format minimum A4
- RGB with included colorprofile (sRGB of Adobe 98 of camera-rgb, any profile will do, but please include one)
- PLEASE DO NOT convert to CMYK, but use RGB only
Practical information about colormanagement and profiles (advanced)
TIP: Use CMYK preview in Photoshop (key shortcut: cmd Y). This way you can see what you can expect if printed
Important use the right color settings:
- Use: Menu > edit > colorsettings
- Choose setting: “Europa, Prepress 3” or “Europa, for print”
- Other option: use “Coated FOGRA 39”
- For more information check: www.eci.org
*Marc Gijzen works for & with BoekieBoekie since 1988!
The professional jury and the children’s jury both judge all the works according the following stArt Award criteria:
Craftsmanship
- Professional – suitable for target audience: the readers of BoekieBoekie age group: 8-13
- Technical mastery
- Constant high quality
Content
- Communicative: does it have an impact on the reader: amuse, astonish, frighten
- Believable: does the image combine with the text
- Appealing: does it draw you in, do you read further
- Intriguing: do you keep looking, is there more to see.
- Depth: is it more than just illustrative. Did the illustrator add something.
Style
- Own style and handwriting – creative capacity
- Original: innovative – surprising
If you are one of the nominees your artwork will be published in the next edition of BoekieBoekie. Please follow the guidelines as explained in FAQ : How to make your artwork print proof.
Mail your entry for the stArt Award as a pdf and give the file the following name:
- Your first-last name
- Title text
- Abbreviation of the academy and country
- Is the work a scan or digital
- Sequence number (when multiple images)
Example: EricSmith-Sirene1- digi-Pars-VS.psd
Mail your work only by using:
boekieboekie.wetransfer.com
NOTE: Upload all your images in one transfer only!
Good luck and we’re looking forward to download your work!
There are many reasons why you have to submit your work by using this link only:
https://boekieboekie.wetransfer.com, but the most important are:
- If we download your work you will get a notification.
- If you do not get a notification, you know: something went wrong.
Your mail got lost in cyberspace or we oversaw it. Sometimes we get more then a hundred mails on one day. - The link boekieboekie.wetransfer.com stays longer valid, then the standard link of wetransfer.
If the download did not come through, or if something went wrong we have more time to download your work again.