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 Granarolo and media partnership Rai Kids and Rai Radio 3, presents the International Silent Book Contest 2024 – 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 The competition is exclusively reserved for new and unpublished illustrated books without words.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.

Authors, illustrators and artists of any nationality, place of origin or residence may participate, with original and unpublished projects, provided they are not less than 18 years old on 5th February 2024. It is possible to participate with one to a maximum of three unpublished projects for each Author.

From the book projects enrolled and sent to the competition by 5th February 2024, an International Jury, nominated by the organization will select from eight to fourteen finalists book projects by March 2024. They will be presented and exhibited at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2024 (April 2024). Then, among the finalists, the Jury will choose the winning project.

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.

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.

The winner announcement and the award ceremony will be held at the Salone Internazionale del Libro of Turin (Italy) in 2024.

The winning book project of the Silent Book Contest 2024 will be published by June 2024 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.

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 2024 if the projects are not worthy of publication.

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 2024 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 2024 by the month of December and the book will be published by Carthusia Edizioni in the first months of 2024. Also in this case, Carthusia can decide to do not publish the book if it considered inappropriate.

To enroll in the contest the Authors have to accept the Rules and Participation Methods and the payment of a registration fee of Euro 50 (fifty) for each project submitted. The payment of the registration fee must be made only by 5th February 2024. It is possible to present a maximum of three unpublished projects for each author. The payment of the enrolment fee is not reimbursable.