Submission form will go live HERE on April 14th at 8am.
Calling all SCAD students!
The annual SCAD Libraries Artists' Book Competition is open to all current SCAD students at any location. Enter up to two artists' books. Winning books may be selected for purchase and included in SCAD Library's Artists' Book Collection. There will be cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.
What is an artist's book, and what can I enter?
Artists' books are works of art that utilize, challenge, defy, reference, or embrace the book as a mode of artistic expression. They can be sculptural, traditional, textual, visual, personal, political, drawn, sewn, conceptual or literal. If you can make a successful argument in your artist's statement that your work is a book, it can be entered into the competition.
We are looking for fine press, performative, altered, and object books. Scrolls, pop-ups, zines, comics, hardback, paperback, perfect bound, and unbound books are all welcome. Categories will be dictated by entries received.
For more information, watch the recording of the Artists' Book Competition Information Session.
Collaborative entries are encouraged.
Did your class or group make an artist's book or minicomics or zines or miniature books? We want to see them all!
May 9th, 2025
Exhibit and Viewer’s Choice Voting: Rooms 256-258, 1600 Peachtree
Artist Talk and Panel: Room 254, 1600 Peachtree
Book Arts Workshop: Room 272, 1600 Peachtree
Awards Presentation and Reception: FORTY (Event Space)
Artists' Book Exhibit and Viewer's Choice Voting
Browse and interact with a showcase of artists’ book entries from this year’s competition and vote for your favorite book in the viewer's choice category.
10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Rooms 256-258
Artist Talk with Abecedarian Artists' Books' Alicia Bailey
Join Alicia as she reflects on her career path as a book artist, independent curator and founder of Abecedarian Artists’ Books.
11:00 a.m. to noon, Room 254
Streaming link: here
Book Arts Workshop
Professor Linstrum will provide a hands-on workshop on how to make an accordion book and a flag book.
Noon – 2:00 p.m., Room 272
Panel Discussion: The Importance of Artists’ Books
Panelists include Alicia Bailey and faculty members as well as students of the past competitions.
2:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m., Room 254
Streaming link: here
Awards Presentation and Reception
Alicia Bailey will announce the winners of the 2025 Artists’ Book Competition. Refreshments will follow.
5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., FORTY (Event Space)
Streaming link: here
All entries will be included in the competition and viewer’s choice voting opportunity on May 9th, 2025. Books will be handled under direct supervision of the librarians. Come out and vote for your favorite book on Friday, May 9th!
The awards will be presented by Alicia Bailey, guest juror, Friday, May 9th, 2025. Winners will be posted on the Artists' Book Competition page directly after the event.
Selected entries will be displayed in the Artists’ Book Room in SCAD Library after the competition. Entrants will be contacted for permission to display their submission. The exhibit will be open to the SCAD community and featured on the daily admissions tours.
Submissions must be picked up from SCAD Library in Atlanta or Jen Library in Savannah on or before June 9th, 2025. All SCADnow submissions will be shipped back to the address it was shipped from. An email will go out to all participating students to coordinate pick up. Entries not picked up by the date indicated will be considered donated and may not be retained.
A brief artist's statement (2-4 sentences) is required for each entry.
No food, untreated charcoal, hazardous materials, or books requiring external equipment (i.e. URLs or flash drives) can be submitted.
You can submit up to two entries, including collaborative work.
Entries can be dropped off at the Jen Library in Savannah or SCAD Library in Atlanta beginning Monday, April 14th and ending midnight, Monday, April 28th, 2025.
If submitting by mail, please send your submission to SCAD Library.
Mailing address: 1600 Peachtree St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30309, USA
All submissions should be received by April 28th, 2025. Please accommodate for shipping time.
Alicia Bailey is a studio artist who focuses on book and box works that include elements beyond surface printed images and text; that move beyond traditional forms and embrace presentation flexibility, interactivity and use of alternative materials. Studio artist/gallerist Alicia Bailey is affiliated with several professional organizations and is owner/director of Abecedarian Artists Books in Denver, Colorado. She is also a member of Denver's Spark Gallery where she currently serves as Co-Director. Alicia acts as an independent curator/juror, instructor/mentor and regional events coordinator in the book arts. In her studio work, she has focused on book and box arts since the mid-nineties, producing box works, artists' books, sculptural books, limited edition books. Her work has been featured in dozens of solo and group exhibits throughout the world and can be found in private and public collections internationally. An archive of her work is under development at University of Denver Penrose Library Special Collections.
An artist's statement is a brief description of your artwork that helps the viewer understand your art. It is written in the first person, while artists' bios are written in the third person.