Adult authors (18 years old and over) of all nationalities, with or without published work, are eligible to take part (excluding employees of the organising entities). Participants may enter as many projects as they wish. The projects may be submitted by one or more authors, individually or in teams. However, each text may only be submitted once. In other words, it is not possible to submit two or more projects with the same text, even if with different illustration proposals.
Participants may submit as many projects as they wish. However, each text can only be submitted once.
The project must not exceed 40 pages, including endsheets* (optional), title page and credits page. Therefore, excluding these pages (endsheets, title page and credits page) the project must contain a maximum of 32 pages or 16 spreads.
Works must be submitted in Portuguese, English or Spanish.
Projects in "Brazilian Portuguese" are accepted.
Any picturebook projects with an original concept and/or narrative can be submitted to the award.
Entries don't necessarily have to be aimed exclusively at a children or young adults, but they shouldn't exclude this target audience.
The jury will value proposals with an approach and richness that appeals to both children and adults.
The projects submitted must be unpublished and cannot be competing simultaneously for other Publishing Awards that may result in the production and publication of a book. However, the proposed works may have already won Awards or mentions in other competitions, provided that these Awards do not interfere with the publication of the book.
If the work has never been published, it can be submitted to the competition.
Text is not mandatory, but illustration is.
The dimensions, techniques and formats are at the discretion of the authors. However, the jury will give priority to projects whose future production does not require the use of more complex production techniques (such as pop ups, cut-outs or folding of any kind). The project cannot exceed 40 pages, including (optional) endsheets*, title page and credits page.
The mockup should contain a complete draft of the entire project. The illustrations don't have to be finished, but they should be drafted. The mockup must contain all the text laid out and at least three double-page spreads with finished illustrations.
Works for submission must be unpublished and may not be simultaneously under consideration for any other publishing prizes that could result in the production and publication of a book. Works for submission may, however, have already been awarded prizes or received mentions in other competitions, as long as these awards do not interfere with the book’s publication.
No. The jury's decision will be final.
A single cash prize of €4,000 will be awarded to the winning submission. Of this total, €1,500 corresponds to an advance on copyright for the publication of the first edition of the work in Portugal by the publisher Planeta Tangerina, which will sign the necessary publication contract(s) with the winning author(s). The award therefore includes the publication of the book in Portuguese by the same publisher, which may also negotiate its sale to other languages and territories.
Probably not. The author will work on the project together with the publisher, in order to make any changes deemed necessary for its publication.
Participants give authorization for their submitted works to be reproduced for publicity relating to the competition.
Yes, this contract will establish the conditions for the first edition of the book and any subsequent editions (in Portuguese or other languages).
Illustrated albums are understood to mean works with images and text or only images. This means that proposals that only contain text will not be admitted, but that album projects without written text (so-called silent books) will be considered valid.
"Endsheets" are the first and final pages of a book that generally contain only visual elements and do not form part of the central core of the book.
"Double page" is the set consisting of the right page + left page when the book is open. The pages can be worked on individually or as a whole.
"Title page" is the opening page of the book where, as a rule, the identifying elements of the work that also appear on the cover are placed, such as the title and the names of the authors and translators (and other information that authors and publishers want to highlight).
"Credits page" is the name given to the set of information that allows us to accurately identify a work: title, year of publication, authors, proofreader, name of the printer, edition or reprint number. It is not mandatory for submitted projects to have a credits page.
All information requests should be sent to albumilustrado@cm-serpa.pt.
Before sending your message, please make sure that the answer isn't listed in our FAQs or in the Award Regulations.
