AIGA - Deadlines + Eligibility

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Deadlines

Early discount deadline: January 6, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET (fees increase $25 USD on January 7, 2025)
Regular deadline: February 7, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET (fees increase $50 USD on February 8, 2025)
Final deadline: March 3, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET (late fees apply)

The competition will accept online entries from December 16, 2024 to March 3, 2025. Fees per book and/or cover increase after each deadline. The online system will remain open until 11:59 p.m. ET on the day of each deadline.

All entries will be reviewed online in both the book and cover categories of the competition. Physical copies will be required only if entered work is selected by the jurors for inclusion in the AIGA collection.

Notification

A confirmation email from competitions@aiga.org will be sent to the entrant once all online steps are successfully completed. Please add this email to your contacts to ensure receipt along with results in the spring.

Only entrants with work(s) selected by the jurors will be notified of inclusion in this year’s competition. Winners will be notified in Summer 2025. The results of this year’s competition will be announced in Summer 2025.

Juror selections will be published in a collection on the competition website and shared across AIGA channels. Recognition includes:

Showcase in the online Winners Gallery;
Official press release distributed to leading industry outlets and media providers;
Official digital assets, including competition logo for winners to self-promote;
Coverage on AIGA social media channels;
Coverage in AIGA newsletters distributed to AIGA members, including AIGA chapters and communities of interest;
Inclusion in the AIGA collection at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University's Butler Library.

Eligibility

A book must consist of at least 24 pages. Except for limited-editions and print-on-demand, print runs should generally be in excess of 250 copies. Books produced as limited-editions or print-on-demand are eligible.* Digitally produced books (ebooks) are also eligible. Printed books must be either case-bound or paperbound between covers. Portfolios of loose pages do not qualify. See examples of selected work from last year’s competition.

Entries should be for sale to the general public in the marketplace, or, if offered gratis, should not be publications whose primary purpose is to advertise or serve as an annual report or other corporate literature.

One-off student projects do not qualify.

International entries are eligible. In order for the jury to understand the content and context, 50 Books entries that are published in languages other than English must be sent with an English-language counterpart—this can be a previously published book or a bilingual book. Non-English 50 Covers entries must include a translation of the title and a U.S.-accessible ISBN or purchasing URL.

Series can be combined into a single entry when two or more books or covers are for the same client and project, which collectively make up one entry. Include all the titles in the title field separated by a semicolon, and upload a TIFF file for cover images of each book in the series.

For the Cover category, if more than six books are in a series, upload a group shot of the collection and upload six additional representative covers from the collection.
For the Book category, if more than six books are in a series, upload a group shot of the collection and upload six additional representative covers from the collection. If selected by the jurors, physical copies of all books in the series must be for inclusion in the AIGA collection.

*Entries in the 50 Covers category: Covers will be judged on the digital file (primary image) uploaded during the entry process; no physical copies need to be submitted at the time of entry. However, if selected as a winner one additional copy must be sent in for inclusion in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) at Columbia University’s Butler Library.

*Entries in the 50 Books category: Books will be judged on the digital files (images and video). If selected by the jurors, we will require one physical copy of the book to be sent for inclusion in the AIGA collection or risk being disqualified. In this category, covers will also be considered as part of the assessment.

Important: Terms and Conditions

Permission to Reproduce Work
By submitting work to the competition, all entrants acknowledge that AIGA reserves the right to use accepted work for reproduction in competitions-related publications; on its websites; in any editorial or exhibition of the competitions’ selections; and for educational and promotional purposes.