Kidlit411 Banner Design Contest 2025

© Colleen Kong-Savage


 July 27, 2025

Our website banner contest is back! Read on for the call for entries, our past winners, and the official rules. The due date is Oct. 15, 2025.


CALL FOR ENTRIES

We invite you to design a website banner for Kidlit411 for temporary use on our website and Facebook group for a month in 2026. 

Prizes include cash ($175 first place; $125 second place, $75 third place), an Illustrator Spotlight, and display of winning entries on our sites. We will pick twelve banners to display in 2026. 

The theme for the contest is (1) what you believe Kidlit411 is about or (2) your interpretation of our original birds on a wire theme. (If this is your first time here, we're a website for children's and YA authors and illustrators that shares information and resources and connects creatives to one another).

Our website gets over 45,000 page views a month, and our Facebook group has over 18,000 members. 

If you submitted an entry in the past years we will also consider those entries for this year's contest, and you're welcome to submit another entry this year too. 

Entries are due by 11:59 p.m. EDT Oct. 15, 2025. Detailed rules below.

PAST WINNERS

This is our original banner that we used from 2013 to 2017:

© Sylvia Liu

2018 winner Hui Li (see the runners up):

© Hui Li

2019 winner Natalie Banker (see the runners up):

© Natalie Banker


We didn't hold a contest for 2020 but see the banners we've used. One of the banners from that year:




© Elspeth Alix Batt

2022 winner Linn My Nguyen (see runners up):

© Linn My Nguyen

We didn't hold a contest for 2023, but here are the banners we've used. One of the banners from that year:

© Melissa Mwai

2024 winner Jan Dolby (see runners up)

© Jan Dolby


We did not hold a contest for 2025, but you can see the banners we've used this year.


OFFICIAL RULES

What: Design a website banner for Kidlit411. 

  • Must include our name, Kidlit411 (you can write it as one word or separate Kidlit and 411)
  • Theme: what Kidlit411 means to you, or birds on a wire 


Specifications: 3300 x 825 pixels, at 300 dpi (high resolution) JPG, 11 in x 2.75 in    

Who is eligible: anybody over age thirteen


Medium: all traditional and digital media are fine, but use of AI to generate or create a design is not allowed


You may enter more than one design.


Prizes


1st place: $175, plus your banner will be displayed for a month on our website and Facebook group page, with a credit, as well as an Illustrator Spotlight 


2nd place: $125, plus your banner will be displayed for a month on our website and Facebook group page, with a credit, as well as an Illustrator Spotlight 


3rd place: $75 plus your banner will be displayed for a month on our website and Facebook group page, with a credit, as well as an Illustrator Spotlight 

9 Honorable mentions: your banner will be displayed for a month on our website and Facebook group page, with a credit, plus an Illustrator Spotlight  


All entries: may be posted in a round up/summary post, with links to your portfolio (with your permission) 


We reserve the right not to award prizes or pick 12 banners. You retain copyrights to all your images. If you are a winner or honorable mention, you give us a right to use your image as a website banner and Facebook cover photo for a specified month. If you have a book you want to promote, we'll help run a giveaway in the Illustrator Spotlight.


How to Submit


1) Email images to kidlit411 (at) kidlit411 (dot) com, with the subject line: "2025 Kidlit411 Banner Contest."


2) Name your files: "first name.last name.KL411 Banner" Please include your full name in the file name or run the risk of your entry getting lost.


3) Include the following in your cover email:

  • Name
  • Website (or portfolio or other site)
  • Preferred social media handles (if you have them)
  • Medium used
  • Whether you give permission for your image to be used in a round up/results post
  • A statement that you did not use AI to create the banner
We will acknowledge receipt. If you haven't received one after a week, please follow up, as entries may have gone to our spam folder. 

Judges


The entries will be judged by the Kidlit411 Team (Elaine Kiely Kearns and Sylvia Liu).


Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EDT, October 15, 2025


Questions?


Email us or leave a comment below. 



Good luck!


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