Call for entries: The second Global Illustration Award will be awarded at Frankfurter Buchmesse

Grand Award winner to receive 6,000 euros

Organised in conjunction with the International Information Content Industry Association (ICIA), the Frankfurter Buchmesse has announced the second Global Illustration Award (GIA). Designed to attract entries from around the world, the competition will be operated exclusively by IlluSalon, a global illustration resource platform based in Asia. Illustrators from all around the world can submit entries until 14 July 2017.

Prizes will be awarded in five categories: book illustration, original unpublished children’s picture book project, advertising and editorial illustration, scientific illustration and theme illustration. The topic of this year’s theme category is “French – diversity and creativity”, highlighting central aspects of the 2017 Guest of Honour presentation at the Book Fair. The Grand Award winner is to receive 6,000 euros, the Gold Award winners will each receive 2,000 euros, and the Excellent Award winners 1,000 euros each.

Last year’s award garnered over 10,000 entries from more than 50 countries in two months. “We are thrilled about the success of the first year of the Global Illustration Award,” says Juergen Boos, Director of the Frankfurter Buchmesse. “The overwhelming number of entries last year shows that there is a need for such an award honouring and putting in the spotlight the work of international illustrators. We are looking forward to this year’s submissions.”

“A beginning like that was well above expectations; it was – for us – nothing short of a miracle”, says IlluSalon founder Mingliang Hou. “Through establishing this award and working with the Frankfurter Buchmesse, we hope to provide a platform for illustrators to display their talent and to communicate with one another. We also hope that rich and colourful illustrations can help drive growth in the content industry.” 

Amongst this year’s judges are Bettina Schulz, Editor in Chief, novum; Aljoscha Blau, illustrator and book artist; Professor Reinhard Schulz-Schaeffer, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences; Christopher Hudson, Publisher, The Museum of Modern Art New York; Professor Martin Salisbury, Director, The Centre for Children's Book Studies, Cambridge School of Art; Zhang Mingzhou, Vice President of IBBY China section, China Children's Press & Publication Group (CCPPG). 

Entries for the competition can be submitted until 14 July 2017 via the award’s website:www.illusalon.com/Home/Award

Contact for illustrators:
Catherine Li, IlluSalon, tel.: +86 186 0023 2749, catherineli@illusalon.com
Leonie Weidel, German Book Information Centre (BIZ) Beijing, tel.: +86 10 8527 6024,weidel@biz-beijing.org 

Last year’s Global Illustration Award winners can be viewed here:www.illusalon.com/AwardResults/Section7_gold_award_list?yearAwardId=21&typeId=73&year=2016

About the ICIA
The ICIA is an international, apolitical, non-profit organisation based in Hong Kong. The organisation advocates the protection and maintenance of the rights and interests of the content industry in light of new technology. Learn more about the association and its work on the website: http://www.icia-international.org/index.php

About the Frankfurter Buchmesse
The Frankfurter Buchmesse is the international publishing industry’s biggest trade fair – with over 7,150 exhibitors from 106 countries, around 278,000 visitors, over 4,000 events and approximately 10,000 accredited journalists and bloggers - in attendance. It also gathers key players from other media, including the film and games industries. Since 1976, the Frankfurter Buchmesse has featured an annual Guest of Honour country, which showcases its book market, literature and culture to attendees in a variety of ways. The Frankfurter Buchmesse organises the participation of German publishers at around 20 international book fairs and hosts trade events throughout the year in major international markets. With its Business Club, the Frankfurter Buchmesse offers essential services and an ideal setting for the activities of publishers, entrepreneurs, pioneers, experts and visionaries. The Frankfurter Buchmesse is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. www.book-fair.com