2023 IYAC TOP International Illustration Award

I. Introduction to the event

IYAC has a strong academic background supported by Contemporery Art Center of New York, Asia Artists Association of USA, Kyoto Chinese Painting And Calligraphy Academy, Kyoto International Conference Center, CAFC Youth Art Center, St. Petersburg Art Center, St. Petersburg, Russia, Japan Chinese Literature and Artists Association, Japan Southern Wind Ink Association, Tokyo Drunken Ink Association, Japan International Cultural Exchange Association, Japan-Hiroshima International Calligraphers Association. A high-level annual art illustration event co-sponsored by the Hiroshima International Calligraphy Art Exchange Association and Tokyo Ink Society.

IYAC has received more than 50,000 entries from more than 20 countries and regions, and has invited more than 30 international artists from five continents to serve as jury members to make an open and fair selection of all the entries and finally arrive at the winners. IYAC is an important event for global art exchange, with activities in dozens of countries and regions, including the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, and Thailand. The IYAC TOP International Illustration Award will be one of the most important art events in the Asia Pacific region and the world, in terms of scale, quality and influence of the entries.

Winning or being selected as a finalist in the 2023 IYAC TOP International Illustration Competition will be an important honor in your life!

 Time of Review / Judging Time

1. The IYAC TOP International Illustration Competition Award has further improved the process and refined the categories of entries.

April-May 2023 Call for entries

➢ April-August 2023 judging

International exhibition in September 2023

 2. The preliminary evaluation will be divided into five rounds, and the finalists will be announced by the Executive Committee of IYAC TOP International Illustration in New York after each round.

3. Selection criteria: The expert jury follows the international (USPAP) standards and has developed a new judging criteria with independent intellectual property rights in conjunction with the authoritative expert group.

4. Contest themes.

1）Fantasy technology   

2) Alternation of seasons

3) Parallel Worlds

 (See the end of the article for the direction of the work creation counseling)

III. Rules & Awards/Rules and Rewards

 1. Eligibility

a. Illustrations created between March 2020 and April 2023

b. Any country or region

c. Entrants can be illustrators/groups, teachers or students

d. No works created or modified by any AI (artificial intelligence technology) will be accepted

2: Entry Categories

Due to the large age range of the contestants, all entries will be divided into the following 5 groups according to the age of the authors for separate judging in order to ensure the fairness of this contest.

A: Children's group (under 6 years old)

B: Elementary School Group (7-12 years old)

C: Middle school group (13-15 years old)

D: High School Group (16 - 18 years old)

E: Professional Group (18 -25 years old)

3:Work requirements

  Format: A3 (international standard A3 size paper, size 297mm×420mm). After the award-winning works are selected, the exhibitors should submit the original works in paper format to the Global Executive Committee.

Registration method: Submit your work through the official WeChat public number registration port or the global major sub-regions.

4:Application Fee

Free of charge for the preliminary evaluation stage

(The institution/school mentor will be responsible for the initial evaluation and review)

➢ After the finalist review, the judging fee is $35 (including judging, certificate, medal, etc.) to participate in the "Final Award for Outstanding Work" competition.

All finalists will have the opportunity to participate in the offline exhibition in New York, USA. 

5:Award Setting

After three rounds of rigorous evaluation, the competition will select the "Creativity Award", "Best Work Gold, Silver, Bronze" and "Excellent Work Award" and other awards, and award medals and certificates.

 Global uniqueness: The award certificate contains the name of the winner and a photo of the exhibited work, and the certificate is verified by internet, with a unique code and an anti-counterfeit steel seal to ensure the uniqueness of each certificate. The certificate is signed and stamped by the international co-organizer, which proves its international certificate attributes and higher and wider international recognition.

Global limited edition: The international top design version of the IYAC award badge, once cast, will not be reprinted, the global limited edition, worthy of permanent collection.

6:Cash reward

The IYAC TOP Competition will have a cash prize pool of $12，000 to be awarded in the form of 12 separate prizes, as follows.

 ➢ 1 TOP Full Prize Award 5000 USD

1 TOP Creative Thinking Awards 3000 USD

10 TOP Visionary Awards 100 USD

 7:Student Awards

Gold Award, Silver Award, Bronze Award, Rising Star Award, Excellence Award, etc.

 8:Academic Mentoring Award

The instructor will be awarded the Academic Mentoring Award of the IYAC TOP International Illustration Competition 2023 New York, and the organizer and the executive committee will issue the honorary certificate.

 9:Honorable Mention

The executive committee of 2023 IYAC TOP International Illustration Award will select the global outstanding pioneer art award organization and issue an authoritative plaque.

 IV. How to Register/International Exhibition

Registration Fee

The exhibition fee is $200 per piece of work, including international logistics, translation, exhibition space, framing, display, album and other material costs (for details of the international exhibition, please contact the teachers of each global competition area)

A: International co-signed exhibition certificate

B: Authoritative letter of recommendation: signed by Dr. John F. Larner, Lifetime Professor of the National Endowment for the Arts, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New York Contemporary Art Center, and Chairman of the IYAC International Jury, with the names of the exhibitors marked in the letter. (The letter of recommendation will be able to testify as international endorsement, background enhancement and other materials to meet the needs related to climbing the rattan and studying abroad, and provide endorsement for students' interview, study abroad and employment. It will provide a solid foundation for participants to apply to prestigious universities and go to the international elite road in the future.)

Exhibition work requirements.

① Works should not be framed. Overseas entries should be packed in plastic/cardboard tubes or sandwiched between sturdy flat sheets. Domestic entries should, in principle, be inserted between sturdy flat panels to avoid damage to the works by the organizers during handling, packing and unpacking.

②The Exhibit Form must be firmly attached to the upper right corner of the back of each entry.

③Please fill out the Entry Form and send it with your work. When you send your work from overseas, please make sure to declare "no commercial value".

④Please fill out all forms clearly in block letters in English and make sure to fill out all necessary information before submitting. Please be sure to sign the entry form before submitting it.

 2. Email Submission

Submission email: IYAC2023@outlook.com , process: send entry → wait for review and reply, email submission please download and fill in the entry form completely

 3. Form Submission

Please fill out the "2023 IYAC TOP International Illustration Competition Application Form" or click the "Read the original article" at the bottom left corner of this article.

 4. Registration Form

Please click on the link below to view the rules, guidelines and instructions for submission. Please complete all forms and submit your work to the IYAC Executive Committee. *You can fill out and print the PDF form directly.

 5. Other Requirements

All types of works are created in different forms, so the selection format will be different, subject to the final selection requirements. The authorship of the work belongs to the author, and the right of publication and use belongs to the organizer and the organizer.

 V. International Exhibition / Co-sponsored by

Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA

Asian Artists Association of America

Singapore Youth and Children's Education Association

(Kyoto Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Institute

Kyoto International Exchange Hall, Japan

Wah Yan Society Youth Art Center, USA

St. Petersburg Art Center, Russia

Sino-British Cultural and Art Exchange Center

Japan Chinese Literary Artists Association

Japan Nanfeng Ink Painting Association

Tokyo Drunken Ink Society, Japan

Japan International Exchange House

Hiroshima International Book and Art Exchange Association, Japan

Tokyo Ink Painting Ink Orchid

Museum for Exhibition Exhibition Venues

 1. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 2. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 

3、Whitney Museum of Art

Witney Museum of American Art