TERMS AND CONDITIONS

  1. Carthusia Edizioni as main organizer, together with the Silent Book Contest Secretary’s Office, with the collaboration of Comune di Mulazzo,  Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino, l’Associazione Montereggio Paese dei Librai,  member of I.O.B. International Organization of Book Towns Italia, with the patronage of IBBY Italia and Centro per il Libro e la Lettura (MiBACT) and with the contribution of BPER Banca and media partnership Rai Kids and Rai Radio 3, presents the International Silent Book Contest 2025 – Gianni De Conno Award. The competition is exclusively reserved for new and unpublished illustrated books without words. The subject is open and not restricted to any age group and readers. The narration must be carried out exclusively through illustrated images and have narrative and stylistic coherence.

  2. Authors, illustrators and artists of any nationality, place of origin or residence may participate, with original and unpublished projects, provided they are not less than 18 years old on 30th January 2025. It is possible to participate with one to a maximum of three unpublished projects for each Author.

  3. From the book projects enrolled and sent to the competition by 30th January 2025, an International Jury, nominated by the organization will select from ten to sixteen finalists book projects by February-March 2025. They will be presented and exhibited at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2025 (March-April 2025). Then, among the finalists, the Jury will choose the winning project.

  4. The book projects entered in the competition must be sent anonymously following the instructions given in the section “On-line registration procedure for submitting material”. Book projects submitted and not corresponding to the Participation Methods or incomplete book projects will not be admitted.

  5. The International Jury, nominated by the organization, is formed of 9 personalities of recognized prestige and professionalism in the publishing world, illustration and literature. The members of the International Jury will be published on the official website of the Silent Book Contest Contest.

  6. The winner announcement and the award ceremony will be held at the Salone Internazionale del Libro of Turin (Italy) in 2025.

  7. The winning book project of the Silent Book Contest 2025 will be published by June 2025 by Carthusia Edizioni of Milan (Italy). The publisher will add it and promote it as part of its editorial catalogue. Carthusia Edizioni has the possibility to decide to do not publish the winning book if considered inappropriate. The author will sign a regular publishing contract and, as established in the rules of the contest and in the contract, will receive a cash prize of € 3.000, as advance on the royalties.

  8. The International Jury has the final decision: to not admit in competition book projects not corresponding to what is specified and contained in the Rules and / or Participation Procedure, to nominate among the projects admitted to the competition a lower number of finalist projects to five or more than ten, and also reserves the right not to proclaim a winner of the Silent Book Contest 2025 if the projects are not worthy of publication.

  9. In addition to the International Jury Prize, thanks to the collaboration with the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino and the support of BPER Banca, from 2020 there is also the Junior Prize. Between September and November 2025 the finalists will be judged from a selected number of classes of primary schools coming from different regions of Italy and some territories outside Italy. The finalist that will receive the highest score from the kids will become the winner of the Silent Book Contest Junior 2025 by the month of December and the book will be published by Carthusia Edizioni in the first months of 2026. Also in this case, Carthusia can decide to do not publish the book if it considered inappropriate.

  10. To enroll in the contest the Authors have to accept the Rules and Participation Methods and the payment of a registration fee of Euro 60 (sixty) for each project submitted. The payment of the registration fee must be made only by 30th January 2025. It is possible to present a maximum of three unpublished projects for each author. The payment of the enrolment fee is not refundable.

ENROLLMENT PROCEDURE

  • The book project must not contain words, with exclusion of the title and possible subtitle. The narration must be realized exclusively through the illustrations and have narrative and stylistic coherence. There are no limits regarding age or reader group, and the subject matter is open.
  • The Author undertakes, under his sole responsibility, to ensure that the illustrations included in the book project are original and unpublished works, as well as the project presented in the competition, absolving the organization, the International Jury and the publisher Carthusia Edizioni who will publish the winning book project, from any moral and legal responsibility in case of projects book and / or illustrations presented in violation of this regulation, copyright and / or in case of plagiarism to third parties.
  • The illustrations featured in the book projects can be in colour or black and white, with unlimited traditional or digital techniques and media.
  • The project must be presented on double pages with an open format of 57 cms in width and 28.5 cms in height (closed format 28.5×28.5cms and opening from right to left). Number of double pages is prefixed: 14 internal double pages of 57×28,5 cms, 1 double page as frontispiece with dedication, front and back cover (total number of pages: 16).
  • Will not be admitted to the selection: book projects with partial or incomplete layouts and book projects exceeding, due to excess or defect, from the dimensions specified.
  • The subscription to the Silent Book Contest 2025 – Gianni De Conno Award, the upload of the PDF file and the payment of the enrolment fee (with PayPal or credit Card) must be done exclusively online on our website following all the given instructions. All the procedure must be completed within the 30th January 2025.

⬇️ Please download and read carefully the complete rules below ⬇️