Welcome to the Virtual Exhibition of the Silent Book Contest 2026 – Gianni De Conno Award, the first international contest dedicated to illustrated books without words, now at its XIII Edition.

This year we have received 285 entries from 50 different countries of the world. The Jury of the Experts selected 16 of them to be the finalists.

THE 16 FINALISTS

Click on the covers to discover more about the stories and the authors. You’ll also find inside an extract of the illustrated pages of the books.

A SECRET BAG

Inga Dagile (Lithuania)

ANCORA UN GIORNO

Elena Tsaprounis, Vicky Xanthopoulou (Greece)

BUYING A NEWSPAPER

Nianzhi Yang (China)

CARTA NAUTA

Andras Asztalos (Slovakia)

EAT YOUR GREENS!

Ana Martín Larrañaga (Spain)

FLORA

Angela Marchetti (Italy)

IF

Ann Nadine Van Mierlo, Marco Sergio Erculiani (Italy)

MISSING!

Linda Ziruffa (Italy)

NODO

Lucia Carlini (Italy)

ORME

Beatrice Polo, Marco Sergio Erculiani (Italy)

PERMESSO!

Camilla Neri (Italy)

SHE DREW A DRAGON

Natalia Yaskina (Russia)

TAMED

Judit Káposztás (Hungary)

THE GREAT SMOG

Heike Scharrer (Germany)

THE WORKMAN

Luca Testi (Italy)

UN PICCOLO MISTERO GIALLO

Andra Calligaro (Romania)

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION

Virtual Exhibition Project conceived by: CARTHUSIA SRL IMPRESA CULTURALE E CREATIVA , Costanza India De Conno

Contest organized and promoted by: CARTHUSIA SRL IMPRESA CULTURALE E CREATIVA

In collaboration with: Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Salone Internazionale del libro di Torino, Comune di Mulazzo, Associazione Montereggio Paese dei Librai, IOB International Organisation of Book Towns

With the patronage of: Ibby Italia

Contest under the auspices of: Centro per il libro e la lettura

Sponsor: BPER Banca

Organizational Committee: Patrizia Zerbi, Costanza India De Conno, Francesco Zamboni

Silent Book Contest – Gianni De Conno Award © CARTHUSIA EDIZIONI SRL IMPRESA CULTURALE E CREATIVA

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