2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival 1st Annual Poster Competition
*Hosted by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center
The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival is pleased to invite artists to compete in our 1st annual poster competition – made possible with support from Duolingo. This competition serves as a stellar opportunity for student and professional artists to highlight their skills as it relates to their love of Jazz and Black American Music.
Submission Information
This competition is open to all student and professional artists:
- Student Artists – Any person who identifies and wishes to apply as a student.
- Professional Artist – Any person who pursues active income via their artistic capabilities.
Deadline for submission: July 15th, 2025
Jazz Festival Dates: September 18th – 21st, 2025
Competition Information
Fifteen finalists will be selected, including: (6) student artist finalists, (6) professional artist finalists, (1) student winner, (1) professional winner, and (1) grand prize winner. The grand prize winner (the overall top applicant) can come from either category.
- The Grand Prize Winner will receive $1500.00
- The Professional Winner will receive $500.00
- The Student Winner will receive $350.00
****Applicants may apply as a group, however one group, as far as the application and judging process is concerned, will only represent a single submission. So, for example, if a student group is chosen as the grand prize winner, that group will receive $1500 to be split amongst the group members.
Additional Information
- All finalists will have their work featured on the PIJF website.
- Only the grand prize winner’s poster will be printed.
- Will we print 100 limited edition copies of the grand prize winner’s poster to be sold at the 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.
- The grand prize winner will keep the copyright for their poster, however all profit made from selling the limited edition copies will go to the August Wilson African American Cultural Center and Pittsburgh International Jazz Fest.
- We will coordinate with the winner to determine exact sizing, but previous posters have been around 24×36 inches
Competition Rules
All visual mediums will be accepted for this competition, however, if not presenting digitally native art, the grand prize winning artist must be able to render a high quality and print ready scan or image of the selected media. The final print resolution MUST be 300dpi and also MUST be reproduction ready to be eligible to win. If the grand prize winner candidate is unable to provide a print ready work we will have to move on to another finalist who can provide the print quality required.
Additionally, all applicants are expected to comply with the following criteria (any deviation may result in your application being dismissed):
- Submissions must be original pieces of art created and conceived by the applicant(s) (Any works involving AI generated images are ineligible).
- Submissions must not contain use of brands, likeness, or personalities.
- Submissions must not contain political or religious marks or logos.
- Submission must not contain any phrases, symbols, or markings that can be considered hateful or derogatory.
**** The AWAACC reserves the right to dismiss any application we feel does not comply with the above criteria.
Thank you to Duolingo for their generous support of our inaugural poster competition.
