The Original Art 2024: Instructional Walkthrough for Illustrators

The entry submission process for The Original Art 2024 will be completely electronic and will be hosted through our competitions website.

Please note:  If you do not already have an account, you will need to create one on our competition site. Please follow the instructions below. If you have entered previously or for other competitions we host, you can use the same login credentials.

The cost for submitting work to The Original Art 2024 is $20 per title for SI members, $30 per title for nonmembers. The website will automatically generate an invoice as entries are completed. Details for this process can be found in the section below titled “Payment Options for Illustrators.”

Creating an Account for Illustrators

1. Go to soicompetitions.org and click “Enter Work” inside of the Original Art 2024 box.
2. Enter your login credentials in the new page. If you’re a new user, click on “Register an account here” and select “I am an illustrator.”
3. The site will request your email address. Enter your address; then click: “Send email.”
4. Check your email for a message from noreply@soicompetitions.org and follow the provided link to complete your account setup. Please be sure to check your spam/ junk folder!

Instructional Walkthrough for Illustrators

• Create a JPEG image file of your book’s front cover (144 DPI, up to 1,000 px on the longest side).
• Prepare a PDF of the entire book in spread viewing format (144 DPI).

1. Log in to your illustrator account on soicompetitions.org.
2. Navigate to the Original Art 2024 section and click “Enter Work.”
3. Upload the JPEG image file of the book cover and the PDF of the entire book.
4. Provide the necessary credit information.
5. Once all required fields are completed, click “Add Entry” to finalize the submission.
6. On the right-side of this page, you will see a box with a thumbnail image of the book cover you uploaded. This means that the site accepted the entry. If you wish to enter another submission, you may do so on this page now!

Please note: There is no formal “Submit entry” button to click once you have completed this process. The site will remain open for edits until the deadline.

1. Log back into your account if changes are needed.
2. Hover over the thumbnail image of the submission to be edited, click the pencil icon.
3. Edit submission details as required, then click “Save Entry” to update.

For Society of Illustrators (SI) members, the cost of submitting a title to The Original Art 2024 is $20. For nonmembers, the cost is $30 per title.

• An invoice is automatically generated after the completion of your first entry and updates automatically with each additional submission you make.
• To access your invoice, navigate to the main page by clicking on your name in blue text at the top right corner of the screen.
• On the main page, look for a small box on the left side labeled “Balance due.” This box displays the total invoice amount.
• If you don’t see the red “Balance due” box immediately, try logging out and then logging back into your account. This action should refresh the page and display the box.
• If you still don’t see the box after logging back in, reach out to Jordan@societyillustrators.org for assistance.

There are two payment options:

• Generate print invoice now: This option allows you to create a printable invoice to mail in with a check.
• Pay online now: This option enables you to pay securely through the online payment form.

Choosing “Generate print invoice now”: 

• When selecting this option, a warning message appears indicating that generating a printable invoice will disable the ability to pay online.
• You can choose to continue or cancel. If you continue, your invoice will be displayed.
• After generating the invoice, you can access it again from your main page by clicking the “Your generated invoices” button.

Choosing “Pay online now”:

• Selecting this option directs you to a new page where you provide billing address and credit card information for payment.
• Upon processing the payment, a receipt is sent to the email address associated with your account.

Submission Deadline and Payment:

• Completing payment before the deadline ensures that your submissions are eligible for consideration in the competition.
• Unpaid submissions will not be sent for review.
• If paying with a mailed check, generate the print invoice before the deadline to indicate payment intent.
• If paying with a credit card online, submit payment before the deadline for eligibility registration.

You will notice a checkbox under the credit information that says “Eligible for Dilys Evans Founders Award?” with a clickable “explain this” option.

Eligibility Criteria:

The Dilys Evans Founders Award recognizes promising new talent in children’s book illustration. To be eligible: An artist may have no more than three books published in the U.S & The artist must not have won the award before. The award specifically focuses on children’s book illustration.

Responsibilities:

It’s the responsibility of those submitting work to be honest about their eligibility for this award. Even with a larger body of published work, artists can still be eligible if they have no more than three published children’s books. Eligibility extends to artists with work published outside the children’s book field.