Illustrators: pencils at the ready!

We talk a lot about ‘silent books’ here at iBbY Ireland, because we believe in the strength of wordless picturebooks to work wonders in many different settings. The Italian branch of iBbY has spent the last few years collecting such books for use in a children’s library in the refugee camp of Lampedusa and in a travelling exhibition. You can find out more about this here and you can browse the catalogue of the exhibition over there.
​iBbY Italia is now launching TWO competitions for illustrators from around the world around ‘silent books’.

1) Create a poster dedicated to the Library of Lampedusa. The subject for the poster is “A library in the middle of the Mediterranean”. A panel of experts will select the winning poster, which
will be used as the official image for publicizing the 2017 travelling exhibition as well as
the activities of IBBY Italia. The original artwork (max. 40 x 60 cm) can be delivered in person to the IBBY Italia stand at the 2017 Bologna Children’s Fair or sent before 19 May 2017 to the following
address: Servizi Educativi, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Via Nazionale 194, 00184 Rome, Italia for the attention of Giulia Franchi. More on the iBbY Italia website.

2) The SILENT BOOK CONTEST will give prize money and publication to an original illustrated and unpublished book project that has been created and produced exclusively through narration by illustrated images. The author of the book project selected as winner by the International Jury will receive an award of Euro 4.500 as advance against copyright with publishing agreement and the winning book project will be published by CARTHUSIA Edizioni. The deadline is 31 January 2017 and all the info is here. Previous winners include Marta Pantaleo from Italy (2016), Mariana Ruiz Johnson from Argentina (2015) and Ireland’s own Brian Fitzgerald (2014).