Tag Archives: Arts Contest

awards, competition, Events, Opportunities

CALL FOR APILA’S FIRST PRINTING AWARD 2026

Leave a comment

Application Deadline: 15/02/2026

LOCATION: Spain

The publishing house Apila Ediciones, in collaboration with the School of Design of Aragón and with the support of the Zaragoza City Council, announces the Apila’s First Impression Award 2026, the fourteenth edition of an International Illustrated Children’s Book competition aimed at strengthening graphic and literary creation by supporting illustrators who have not yet published any books.

ELIGIBILITY:

All illustrators who wish to participate, of any nationality, over 18 years old, may enter this award without any limitation on the number of projects. A necessary condition for participation is not having any published children’s books with an ISBN until June 30, 2025. However, those who have one or more self-published books with an ISBN may participate, provided that these books were not published through a publishing house or editorial services company. In cases where the project is a collaboration (text by one person and illustrations by another), the condition of not having any published books applies exclusively to the illustrator. Additionally, the rights to the submitted works must be free of commitments to third parties.

The works submitted, written in Spanish or English, may be original or adaptations of stories free of copyright.

The award will be granted to one project only.

The projects may have any format but may not exceed 40 pages (20 double pages), including legal pages (credits page and title page) and flyleaves. The cover: the front cover, spine and back cover are not included in the 40 pages of the book.

BENEFIT:

The award will consist of the signing of a professional contract with Apila Ediciones for the publication of the selected work, which will include the payment to the author(s) of €4,000, equivalent to 10% of the value of the first print run of the book, as well as the dissemination and international distribution of the book.

In the event that the rights of the project are shared between the writer and illustrator, the percentage of 10% will be divided between them according to the prior agreement reached by both.

The winning author or authors shall, in said contract, transfer the rights of the book to Apila for publication and for the international management of those rights for a period of twelve years.

APPLY
awards, competition, Events, Opportunities, other events

BRITISH COUNCIL BIENNIALS CONNECT GRANTS FOR UK AND INTERNATIONAL BIENNIALS/FESTIVALS OF VISUAL ARTISTS

Leave a comment

Application Deadline: 4 September 2025, 23.59 (BST). 

LOCATION: United Kingdom

Biennials Connect Grants support visual artists’ participation in UK and international festivals and biennials. The grants directly benefit artists by facilitating opportunities for travel, the production of new work, networking, skills building and showcasing through biennial partners. 

ELIGIBILITY:

Biennials Connect Grants are open to UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and international biennials, festivals and art organisations. Individual artists are not eligible to apply. 

International biennials/festivals must be based in eligible countries. The full list of eligible countries can be found on the program website. 

Before making your application, please read the Application Toolkit and ensure your application meets these conditions:

Organisations applying must:

be one of the following:

UK biennials or festivals supporting international visual artists’ participation 

international biennials or festivals supporting visual artists’ participation from the UK 

or other visual arts organisations collaborating with a biennial/festival. 

be based in UK or an eligible international country (please see downloads below for the full list of eligible countries)

be primarily a visual art biennial or festival. Multi-arts biennials and festivals can apply but they must demonstrate a focus on visual arts within their programme

be supporting artists over the age of 18. If artist travel is included in the project, the artists must be able to travel internationally on valid passports (organisations must arrange travel, transport, accommodations, insurance and visas themselves)

be supporting artists you have either not previously worked with or supporting new projects with artists you have worked with before

share the British Council’s commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and will embed best EDI practices into the activity 

share the British Council’s commitment to paying artists fairly and will ensure artists are fairly compensated for their participation. 

 Applications by individual artists will not be eligible. 

The core activity or biennial/festival presentation will be from February 2026. The final activity and evaluation must take place before February 2027. Project proposals should have a timeline ending no later than February 2027.

Grant applications can be made for projects involving multiple artists, but only one application per biennial organisation can be submitted. 

Festivals can receive a maximum of one Biennials Connect Grant per edition. If you received a grant for a previous or current festival, you can apply and receive another for a forthcoming festival, but you cannot receive multiple grants in one festival edition. 

BENEFIT:

They have up to £9,500 available for: 

UK biennials/festivals collaborating with visual artists based in ODA* countries 

international biennials/festivals based in ODA* countries collaborating with visual artists in the UK.

They have up to £5,000 available for:

UK biennials/festivals collaborating with visual artists based in non-ODA* countries 

international biennials/festivals based in non-ODA* countries collaborating with visual artists in the UK 

You can apply for up to an additional £2,500 for project access costs

APPLY