53rd Angouleme International Comics Festival：JEUNES TALENTS CONTEST 2026

RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE ‘JEUNES TALENTS’ CONTEST

53rd Angouleme International Comics Festival – 29 January -1st February 2026

Art.1: The limited liability company 9e Art+ (capital of 10,000 euros, headquartered at 71 rue Hergé, 16000 Angoulême, France), is the organizer of the Angoulême International Comics Festival and is registered with the Angoulême Trade and Companies Register (French RCS) under number B 499 371 433. In addition, 9e Art+ is the organizer of an international contest entitled ‘Concours Jeunes Talents’ (Young Talents Contest) starting on 5 June 2025. Applications must be sent by 4 November 2025 and postmarked on or before that date.

Art.2: The aforementioned contest is free and open to cartoonists and comic book creators aged 17 and over who have never been professionally published. The Grand Winners of the ‘Jeunes Talents’ contest of previous years are not allowed to take part in the contest.

Art.3: Participants must:

1/ Complete a participation form as specified hereafter: The participation form is to be completed online on the Festival’s ‘young talents contest’ website page (at bdangouleme.com). The summary of your seizure obtained after validation of the form must be printed and affixed on the back of each comic strip page. This step is mandatory in order to confirm your participation.

2/ Send a comic strip presenting a complete story including a title, written in French or wordless, in one, two, or three comic strip pages maximum (printouts are accepted), in black-and-white or in color. All themes, styles, and genres are allowed, provided they are compliant with public order and ethics. Only one work can be submitted per participant.

Art.4: The size of the paper support must be A3 (29.7 x 42 cm), French style (vertical format). Several participants may enter the contest together on a same project. In this case, please detail the name and work (scriptwriter, cartoonist, colorist) of each participant on the participation form. All documents (with on the back of each comic strip page the summery of the seizure) must be sent in a package (not rolled up), by post only and no later than 4 November 2025. Any other contest entry method shall be deemed null and void. Comic strip pages without summery of seizure will be rejected

The participation form must be completed online on the Festival’s ‘young talents contest’ website page (at bdangouleme.com).

Shipments are to be made to the following address:

9e ART + / Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême ”Concours Jeunes Talents”
71, rue Hergé
16 000 ANGOULEME
FRANCE

Art.5: Receipt of the works will not be acknowledged and no letter relating to the contest will be answered. Customs fees or other postal costs will not be covered by the organizers. Postal shippings not sufficiently franked will not be accepted and returned to the sender under the responsibility of the Post Office or delivery company.

Art.6: A Jury of Comic Strip Professionals will select the 20 best comic strips according to the quality and originality of the script and drawings. The 20 selected comic strips will be showcased as part of an exhibition entitled ‘Jeunes Talents’ and will be featured in a catalogue displaying the selected comic strip pages. The Jury shall select three winners, the best one of whom will be awarded the ‘Prix Jeunes Talents’, one of the Angoulême International Comics Festival’s official prizes. The three winners will be invited to Angoulême from Thursday 29 January to Sunday 1 February 2026 (accommodation and transport – on the basis of a second-class SNCF train ticket from the station closest to the selected candidates’ place of residence – shall be financed by 9e Art+, without any monetary requirement on the part of the selected candidates other than living expenses). The other seventeen selected participants shall each be given a 4-day pass to the Festival. In addition, another selected participant will be awarded the ‘Prix Jeunes Talents Région’; this winner, residing in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, will be selected by the same Jury. ‘Prix Jeunes Talents Région’ is invited on the same terms as the 3 laureates of the contest.

The names of the selected participants shall be announced no later than 19 December 2025 on the Festival’s website, www.bdangouleme.com.

Neither the 9e Art+ company nor the jury will be able to justify the reasons for the non- selected works.

Art.7: The 20 selected comic strips will be showcased from the 30th of January to the 2nd of February within the Espace Nouvelle Création. The prizes awarded within the scope of the contest will be as follows: a €1,500 grant to the ‘Prix Jeunes Talents’ grand winner, a €1,000 grant to the first runner-up winner, and a €500 grant to the second runner-up winner. The grants will be paid before 30 June 2026 by the company 9e Art+.

The first prizewinner will also be offered a commissioned word to create visuals for the following festival.

Art.8: In its capacity as Contest Partner, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region will award a €1,500 grant to the winner of the ‘Prix Jeunes Talents Région’ (provided he or she resides in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, at least for the duration of the contest and will have to justify this at first request).

Art.9: In the event that they are selected, the participants hereby authorize the company 9e Art+ to publish and represent their submitted works as part of catalogues and collections, on the Internet, and in exhibitions. In any event, the company 9e Art+ may only subsequently use the works (publications, etc.) entered in the contest by the participants by virtue of an authorization to distribute and use said works in due form delimiting the rights and obligations of each party, in particular with regard to remuneration and the scope of the transfer of the property rights, and in compliance with the authors’ moral rights.

Art. 10: The original comic strip pages submitted by the other selected participants shall be sent back without tracking to them (at the address specified upon submission) by the company 9e Art+ in the course of 2026 or, in the event of a travelling exhibition of the aforementioned comic strip pages, as soon as possible after the end of the said exhibition. All non-selected original comic strip pages shall be sent back in the course of 2026 to the address mentioned upon submission.

Returns will be processed by La Poste Française and will be sent by regular mail without follow-up.

The festival will cover one return shipment, if the parcel is returned to us, participants are invited to inform us if they wish to recover their work, in which case the costs will be at their expense.

Be careful, digital copies or prints will not be returned.

The organizer shall not be held responsible for any loss, damage, and/or theft of the comic strip pages.

Art. 11: 9e Art+ reserves the right to shorten, extend, modify, and/or cancel the contest if circumstances so require or in the case of force majeure. It shall not be held liable in such events.

Art. 12: The present Rules and Regulations are filed with court bailiff SCP DEENEN-GRENOT, 16 rue de la Tourgarnier – 16000 ANGOULEME. The Rules and Regulations may be amended at any time in the form of an amendment by the organizer.
The Rules and Regulations are available free of charge upon written request sent to: 9e Art+/Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême ‘Concours Jeunes Talents’, 71 rue Hergé 16000 ANGOULEME, or on www.bdangouleme.com.

Art. 13: The simple fact of participating in the contest implies acceptance, without reserve, of the present Rules and Regulations in their entirety. Any inaccurate or misleading statement and/or any fraud shall result in the participant’s immediate disqualification.

Art. 14: All participants are subject to the French Law applicable to games and contests. Any dispute that cannot be settled amicably shall be referred to the competent courts designated under the French Code of Civil Procedure.

Art. 15: Any personal information collected in the context of the contest shall be processed in accordance with the French Data Protection Act of 6 January 1978. In application of the aforementioned Act, all contest participants have the right to access and rectify their personal data.

Art. 16: In accordance with the laws that govern literary and artistic property rights, any reproduction and/or representation of all or part of the elements of this contest is strictly prohibited. All brands mentioned are the registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For any question, contact us on jeunestalents@bdangouleme.com.

 

source from: https://www.bdangouleme.com/