Apila's First Printing Award 2025

Apila's First Printing Award 2025 is now open for entries!

Apila's First Printing Award 2025: Apila Ediciones in collaboration with the High School of Design of Aragón and with the support of its Town Hall, announces Apila’s First Printing Award 2024, an international illustrated picture book contest to promote creativity and enrich children’s literature with an educational scope.

Short description

Apila’s First Printing Award is an international illustrated picture book contest to promote creativity and enrich children’s literature with an educational scope.

The competition invites creatives from around the world to submit projects that combine storytelling and visual art, contributing to the development of educational and imaginative picture books for children. With the option to submit original stories or adaptations of public domain tales, the award seeks to foster innovation and creativity in children’s publishing.

The aim of this competition is to promote the production of children’s picture books, illustrated by illustrators with no previous published works.

Illustrators, regardless of nationality, may submit a project of an illustrated picture book for children, written in Spanish or English, and could be either original tales or adaptations from tales with free copyright.

The pinnacle of the competition is the winning project, selected for its embodiment of creativity and educational enrichment.
Apila Ediciones, a revered publishing house with a penchant for nurturing artistic endeavors, will champion this project to publication. Through this synergy of creativity, education, and artistic expression, the Apila’s First Printing Award leaves an indelible mark on children’s literature, fostering a new wave of compelling narratives that resonate across cultures and generations.

The decision and the award will be made in February 2025. The award will be granted to one project only.

Submission requirements:

➜ 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: front cover, spine and back cover are not included in the 40 pages of the book.

➜ A PDF file (maximum 10 megabytes) of the finished book or, failing that, of the layout of the book with a minimum of five finished double-page spreads and the rest sketched. The file must be named indicating the surname and first name of the illustrator plus the word “LAST NAME_FIRST NAME _BOOK”.

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

Who may enter?

The competition is open to illustrators over the age of 18 who have not yet been published by a traditional publishing house, giving new voices in the field a chance to be heard on a global stage.

Prize:

The winner will sign a professional contract with Apila Ediciones for the publication of their book, which includes a prize of €4,000. This amount represents 10% of the value of the first print run. The winning book will also benefit from international distribution, providing the illustrator with significant exposure.