All competitions · Prize / award
The Macmillan Prize for Illustration 2026
Pan Macmillan (Macmillan Children's Books) · London, United Kingdom
Free annual competition for non-professional, UK-resident illustrators aged 18+ to submit an unpublished children's picture book. Prizes of £1,000, £500 and £250 plus feedback from Macmillan.
Your eligibility
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Who can enter
- Location
- United Kingdom (by country of residence)
- Age
- 18 and over
- Career stage
- Student, Emerging
- Mediums
- Illustration
- Theme
- children's picture book
- Status
- Amateur artists only
- Practice
- Within the first 1 years
- Work
- Previously unexhibited work only
- Entries
- Up to 1 work per artist
- Submission
- Online submission
- Also
- UK residents aged 18+ with less than one year's illustration experience and no publishing contract; one entry per person; unpublished picture book.
About
The Macmillan Prize for Illustration is run by Pan Macmillan to stimulate new work and help aspiring children's book illustrators begin their careers. Entrants must be 18 or over, resident in the UK at the point of entry, and not professional illustrators: they must have less than one year's illustration experience and no existing publishing contract or offer. One entry per person.
Entrants submit pencil roughs for a complete 24-32 page picture book plus finished artwork for at least four double-page spreads (or three spreads and a cover), as a single PDF via an online form. Entry is free. The 2026 competition closed at 17:30 on 24 April 2026, with winners notified by 27 May and announced on 25 June 2026. Prizes are £1,000 (first), £500 (second) and £250 (third), each with a feedback session with the Macmillan team. The prize runs annually; 2027 dates had not been announced when read.