The Original Art 2023- Instructional Walkthrough for Publishers/ Artists’ Representatives

The entry submission process for The Original Art 2023 will be completely electronic and will be hosted through our competitions website.

Please note: This site will prompt you to enter your account information. So if you do not already have an account, created for last year’s Original Art entry process or for other competitions we host through this portal (Illustrators Annual, MoCCA Arts Festival, etc.), you will need to create one. Just follow the instructions below. Also note that your account is used strictly to collect the information and files required for the submission process and for notification of acceptance into the show. You will not be added to any email lists by creating an account on this site.

The cost for submitting work to The Original Art 2023 is $20 per title for SI members, $30 per title for nonmembers. The website will automatically generate an invoice as entries are completed, and you will find details of the process in the section titled “Payment Options for Publishers/ Artists’ Representatives.”

Creating an Account for Publishers/ Artists’ Representatives

1. Go to soicompetitions.org.
2. Click the “Enter work” button inside the Original Art 2023 Competition information box.
3. You will be taken to a new page to enter login credentials. To the right of this prompt box, you will see a button that says: “Register an account here.” When you scroll over this button, you will notice it says: “I need an account!” Click this.
4. You will be taken to a new page that reads: “Create a new account.” You will see that the third option is: “I am an art director or artists’ rep. I plan to upload work on behalf of various illustrators.” Click this.
5. The site will request your email address. Enter that information, then click: “Send email.”
6. The site will send you an email prompting you to follow the link to complete the creation of your account. The address should be from: noreply@soicompetitions.org, and the subject line should read: “A message from Society of Illustrators.” Please note: This email may be automatically pushed to your spam/ junk folder. Be sure to check these folders before reaching out to breann@societyillustrators.org for further assistance.
7. By clicking the link provided in the email, you will be taken to a page to complete your account registration. Once you have completed this step, you will be allowed to log into your new account. You may also receive another email confirming your account’s creation and stating the login credentials you provided.

Instructional Walkthrough for Publishers/ Artists’ Representatives

1. Go to soicompetitions.org.
2. Click the “Enter work” button inside the Original Art 2023 Competition information box.
3. Log into your account.
4. You will be taken to a page to start entering illustrators into the competition. If you already have an account with us, you will see a list of illustrators entered into previous competitions, and you’ll be able to drag each illustrator’s name into the competition box on the right side of the screen. If this is your first time working with our competitions site, or if you need to add an illustrator you have not entered work for before, click: “Add new illustrator.”
5. A prompt box will appear asking you to provide the new illustrator’s first and last name and email address. Please note: We collect this information so that we can send artists invitations to events affiliated with the show, such as the opening reception and programming opportunities. Notification of acceptance into the show will only be sent to the entrant’s/ account holder’s email address. The artists will not be emailed about this.
6. Once you have added all the required information for the illustrator, click the “Save” button, and you will notice that the new illustrator has been automatically added to the competition box on the right side of the screen.
7. Once all the illustrators you wish to enter work for have been added to this box, click the “Save” button. If an illustrator whose work you do not wish to enter in this competition was accidentally added to the box, hover over that person’s name, and you will see an “X” appear. Click on this “X,” and the artist’s name will be sent back to the list of illustrators on the left side of the page.
8. Clicking “Save” will bring you to a new page with the illustrators listed that have been entered into this competition. You will notice that each illustrator’s name appears as a button. Click on the name of the illustrator for whom you wish to upload entries first. If for any reason you missed adding an illustrator to this list, look at the top of this page above the buttoned illustrators’ names, and you will see a button that says: “Add illustrator to list.” Click this to be taken back to the page that will allow you to add new illustrators to the competition. Once you’ve completed the necessary steps, click the “Save” button as before. Then click on the illustrator’s name you wish to upload entries for first.
9. A new page will appear with the illustrator’s name at the top left above the items required for each entry. You will need to fill in the credit information and upload a JPEG image file of the book’s cover and a PDF of the entire book. Once you have completed all required fields, an “Add entry” button will appear. Click this to complete the entry. Please note: PDFs will not be stored on the site, nor will they be downloadable through the portal. Our online competitions platform is a secure server, and jurors will only be able to view these files for the process of selecting in-show books.
10. This page will remain open on the site, and in the right-side box you should see a thumbnail image of the book cover you uploaded. This means that the site accepted the entry. Please note: Because this is a thumbnail, it may only show a section of the image. This is not a reflection on how the image will appear to the judges; it will appear as you saw it in the preview window after uploading the image file to the site. If there is no thumbnail image present, please confirm that your book cover image file is at the correct specs. The site may not accept image files greater than the specs we have provided.
11. If you wish to enter another submission for this illustrator, you may do so on this page now. If you wish to submit an entry for a different illustrator, hover over the illustrator’s name that currently appears on the screen, and you will see that it now says: “Change.” Click this, and the site will take you back to the page with the list of all the illustrators entered into this competition. Click on the name of the illustrator whose work you wish to upload next; then follow the same procedures as before.
12. Continue this process until you have uploaded files and information for all the illustrators whose work you wish to enter into this year’s competition.

Please note: There is no formal “Submit entries” button to click once you have completed this process for all of your illustrators. The site will remain open for possible edits to entries until the deadline occurs. Once the deadline hits, the site will automatically take the files and information that you have provided and send it to the judging portal for consideration.

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

The explanation reads as follows:

The Dilys Evans Founders Award is an annual prize for the most promising new talent in the field of children’s book illustration. To be eligible, an artist may have no more than three books published in the U.S. and may not have won the award before.

It is the responsibility of the publisher / artists’ representative to complete the research about each illustrator’s eligibility for this award. Please note that an artist may have a large body of published work and still be eligible, as this award is specifically for children’s books. If an illustrator has work published outside this field, but has no more than three published children’s books, that illustrator is eligible to be considered for the award.

1. If you are still logged into your account or once you have logged back into your account, select the illustrator for whom you need to update files and / or information.
2. You will be taken to a new submission page for that artist, and on the right side of the page you will see a box with a thumbnail image of book covers for any previous entries.
3. If you hover over the thumbnail of the submission you wish to edit, a pencil icon will appear. Click this icon.
4. The site will now display the image file, PDF, and credit information provided for this entry. Edit any of these items as needed. Then click “Save entry” to update the information and / or files.

Upon logging into your entrant account, you will see that in the top bar there are three items listed:

1. Entrant’s name, which is not clickable.
2. Art Director, which is clickable.
3. Illustrators, which is clickable.

If you click on “Art Director,” you will be taken to a page to edit your account’s information. This includes the company’s information, the entrant’s information, and the login information for the account. Click the “Save” button once you have updated this information as needed. The site will confirm that the information has been updated. Then you can click the word “Cancel” at the top of this information box to be taken to the “Add new illustrator” page.

If you click on “Illustrators” you will be taken to a page listing all the illustrators associated with this account, including those not entered into the current competition. If you hover over an illustrator’s name, three icons will appear: A pencil, a piece of paper with a folded corner, and an “X.”

• Pencil: Clicking this icon will take you to a page that will enable you to edit the illustrator’s information.
• Paper with folded corner: Clicking this icon will move the illustrator to an archive directly connected to your account. Please note: This action cannot be undone. Going forward, you will be able to see this artist’s name in your archive. But you will not be able to enter them in this or in any future competition.
• “X”: Clicking this icon will permanently delete the artist from your account. Please note: This action cannot be undone.

At the top of the Illustrators page, you will also see a box, titled “Illustrators,” that has three buttons: “Add illustrator,” “View archive,” and “View inactive.”

• Add illustrator: Clicking this button will take you to a page that will enable you to add a new artist.
• View archive: Clicking this button will take you to a page that displays artists that you have archived. If you have not yet used this option, the page will indicate that there are currently no archived illustrators associated with your account.
• View inactive: Clicking this button will display the names of illustrators whose work is currently not being entered into this competition. It will also give you the option to move them to an archive connected to your account, if that is your wish.

As noted, the cost for submitting work to The Original Art 2023 is $20 per title for SI members, $30 per title for nonmembers. The website will generate an invoice when your first entry is completed, and that invoice will be automatically updated after each additional submission is accepted into the system. The invoice will be located on the main page. To return to that page, look for your name, which will be in blue text at the top right side of your screen, next to the “log out” button. Click on your name, and your invoice will appear. It will be located in a small box on the left side of your screen, which will read: “Balance due” and will include the total invoice amount. Within this box you will see a red button that reads: “Settle up.” Clicking on this button will take you to a page with payment options. It will also give you a preview of the work entered in the competition, as well as the entry details.

Please note: If you do not see the small box, you may need to logout and log back into your account. The site will be managing multiple submissions at a time and may require this “refresh” to update and process your information. If you log back in and still do not see this box, please reach out to breann@societyillustrators.org for assistance.

There are two Payment Options:

• Generate Print Invoice Now: This will allow you to generate a printable invoice to mail in with a check.
• Pay Online Now: This will allow you to settle up, using our secure online payment form.

If you select “Generate print invoice now,” a small red box will appear with this warning message: “If you generate a printable invoice, you will no longer be able to pay for these entries online. Are you sure you want to continue?” Then you’ll have the option to continue or to cancel. If you select “Cancel,” the box will disappear, displaying the Payment Options page again. If you select “Continue,” the page will display your invoice.

Please note: Prior to generating the invoice, you may need to change your settings to allow for pop-ups, otherwise this window may not appear. Once the invoice page appears, you can turn your pop-up blocker back on again.

There should now be an option at the top left of your screen that says “File,” which will give you the option to “Print.” If you go back to your main page, you will now see a blue “Your generated invoices” button, which will allow you to access your generated invoice again by clicking the date provided.

The website’s generated invoice will be an itemized list of each entry’s information. If you need a simplified invoice, please email your request to: breann@societyillustrators.org.

If you select “Pay online now,” you will be taken to a new page where the site will gather the billing address and credit card information for payment completion. Once the payment has been processed, a receipt will be sent to the email address on file for the account. If you choose to pay online, there will be no invoice attached for your records. If you need an invoice, please email your request to: breann@societyillustrators.org, but be aware that the invoice created manually will be a simplified version of the itemized list of entries the website will generate for you.

If you want to submit more items after an invoice has been generated or an online payment has been made, you are welcome to do so. The website will simply generate a new invoice for these additional submissions.

IMPORTANT: In order for the submissions to be sent to the judging portal for consideration, one of the two following payment options must be completed before the deadline!

• If you choose to pay with a mailed check, you must generate your print invoice before the deadline in order for the site to register that a payment will be made.
• If you choose to pay with a credit card through the online payment portal, you must submit your payment before the deadline in order for the site to register that your work is eligible.

Any unpaid submissions will not be sent to the judging portal for the jurors’ review.