2025 Fall Cover Art Contest

Our triannual program guides are mailed out to over 7000 homes in our district and your artwork could grace our next cover! We’re on the lookout for talented local artists to showcase their creativity. 

This year’s theme is “Fall Into Your Imagination.”

We want to see how fall inspires you—whether it’s cozy sweaters and swirling leaves, or magical autumn creatures. A treehouse in a golden forest? Page Turner in a pumpkin spaceship? Totally works. Let your imagination run wild and celebrate the stories, sights, and feelings of the season.

Submit your work for a chance to be featured on our guide and recognized by our community. Show us what you’ve got, Kane County!

 

Rules and Eligibility

• Open to All Ages
• Entrant must be a Kane County resident.
• All artwork must be the original work of the entrant.
• AI-generated artwork is not permitted. All submissions must be created entirely by the artist, whether physical or digital.
• Only one entry per person.
• Entries must be submitted using the online form below.
• Contest is open from May 19 – July 9.
• Artwork can be made physically or digitally but initial submission must be online.  Photos of physical artwork are acceptable, but the winner will need to present work for a hi-res scan.

Prizes

Top 5 entrants will receive a $25 gift card and a Library T-Shirt.

Grand Prize winner will receive a $100 Gift Card, Library T-Shirt, Poster Print of final cover, acknowledgement in Fall 2025 Program Guide, and their artwork will grace the cover of the Fall Program Guide.

Design Help

To give everyone the best chance to submit the winning entry, we have outlined a few things to consider when creating your artwork.

• Consider document bleed: For those unfamiliar, bleed is printing that goes beyond the edge and is trimmed off.  When our Program Guides are sent off to a printer, they are 1/8 inch larger on all 4 sides and then trimmed to size.  This means all artists will want to avoid putting important details near the edge of the artwork.
• Program Guides measure 6.5 inches wide x 8.75 inches high before bleed. Our guides are sized to be handheld, however it may be easier to create a larger piece that has those same proportions e.g. 13 inches wide x 17.5 inches high.  If increasing the size, you will want to remember to increase the margin for bleed as well.  As an example, if you double the width and the height you will want to double the bleed too, so that you have 1/4 inch bleed margins on all sides.
• Cover layout is important. We would love to show off your work in its full glory, but we also need to inform our readers of what the guide is and what they will find inside.  Every cover features text along the top and the side, as well as the Library logo near the bottom center.  The font colors will be chosen to compliment the winning artwork.
• A transparent mock layout with margins is available here for anyone who would like to use it, but remember to remove it when you submit your entry.

Submissions have closed for the 2025 contest.