ENGLISH VERSION
COMPETITION RULES click here

The International Festival of Comics in Łódź

The International Festival of Comics in Lodz is regularly held in October, in Lodz Cultural Center (ŁDK). Each year the festival gathers a few thousand comics fans from all over Europe. Here in Lodz, in the center of Poland, they can meet their favourite artists face-to-face and take part in workshops conducted by them, see various comics exhibitions, buy new comics from publishers and old ones from collectors or simply enjoy many additional events like music concerts and movie screenings. The festival is one of the most well-known comics event in Central and Eastern Europe.

Each year the organizers invite famous comics artists to meet their Polish fans in the city of Lodz. Among our guests were Stan Sakai, Marvano, Grzegorz Rosiński, Dany, Yves Sente, Jean-Louis Mourier, Zbigniew Kas Kasprzak, Pat Mills, Clint Langley, Max Andersson, Giuseppe Barbati, Marco Soldi, Maurizio di Vincenzo, Karel Saudek, Gilles Lepore, Gianluca Panniello, Elisabetta Melaranci, Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savoia. Beside the foreign comics celebrities, one can also meet many popular Polish artists, whose careers were often started at the International Festival of Comics in Lodz itself.

The main event of the festival is the annual short comics competition. Every year the organizers receive about a hundred submissions from amateur artists as well as experienced ones. That is why the competition is divided into two categories – amateurs and professionals. In each category there are three prizes to be taken by the best comics, however, only one work from either the amateur or professional category is chosen by the jury as the Grand Prix of the International Festival of Comics in Lodz. There is no given theme of the competition, but the stories cannot be longer than eight pages. The works are exhibited in the festival’s headquarters and the best ones are published in the annual festival catalogue. Comics artists from abroad are more than welcome to run in the competition, there have been submissions from Austria, Ireland, The Czech Republic, Japan, Israel, Russia, Germany or Brazil.

October is still the month of majority of comics premieres, most of which are especially prepared for the festival. At the festival fair the visitors can buy very old comics as well as the latest novelties from all over the world.

The festival is also the time of numerous exhibitions. The exhibition presenting comics submitted for the competition is obviously of the greatest significance. But other fringe exhibitions are worth mentioning as well. So far the organizers have presented Russian, French, German, Swiss and English comics. The audience can also admire works of Polish artists, both well-known and debutants. There are also numerous theme exhibitions that can be seen not only in ŁDK but also in Piotrkowska Street, clubs, galleries and shopping centers all around the city of Lodz.

The festival would not be complete without all the accompanying events that take place in Lodz: the annual Miss Comics Pageant is perhaps the most interesting one. During the pageant, the candidates for the title are drawn ‘live’ by various artists and rated by the cheering crowd. In 2007 it was Dany’s nude beauty, created in a few smooth moves, who smashed the competition and won the title. There are also parties organized for the participants of the International Festival of Comics and celebrations of various comics’ anniversaries (in 2007 it was Thorgal’s spectacular 30th birthday party with Grzegorz Rosiński cutting the Viking Ship cake).

COMPETITION RULES      pdf ver.

The International Festival of Comics held in Łódz in October 2008
Competition for a short comics form - the rules.

The competition is open to the public. The theme of the comics is free. You can use different techniques such as drawing, painting, computer graphics or photography.
To take part in the competition you should submit comic strips that haven’t been published before.
The submitted comics will be evaluated in two categories:
- professionals (people who have already published their works in albums or magazines- excluding MFK catalogues)
- novices (winners in the category will be treated as professionals in the future competitions)
The participant is supposed to declare in which category he/she would like to appear. The organizers exercise the right to verify the participants` declarations.
The competitors can put forward one comic strip. The number of pages must not exceed eight pages A3 (297x420mm) or A2 (210x297mm). All the pages should be signed, numbered and marked as “professional” or “novice”. You should write your name, address, function e.g. graphic designer, scriptwriter, your e-mail and the telephone number. All works should be signed on the back side only. You should also enclose a CD with an electronic version of the work (files saved as tif, CMYK, A4-300DPI). The works that won’t be accompanied by a CD version won’t be published in the catalogue.
All the comics should be packed in a cardboard folder which is needed to send you back the comics (copies and printouts will not be sent back).
The comics should be sent to Łódzki Dom Kultury, Traugutta 18, 90-113 Łódz, with a headline KOMIKS 2008 by 31 August 2008. To take part in the competition you are requested to pay 30 PLN. (for Polish citizens) and 15 Euro (for foreigners) into our bank account: ŁDK, Traugutta 18, 90-113 Łódz PKO BP O/Łódz, Nr PL44102033520000100200142562 (swift BPKOPLPW) and send the photocopy of the receipt along with the comics.
Only works complying with the requirements will take part in the competition. The works will be shown at the Exhibition of Comics housed in ŁDK during the festival. The organizers exercise the right to verify the participants` works. All competitors will be allowed free admission to fringe events. What is more, all competitors whose works will be published in the catalogue will get a copy of it for free.
A special jury (Comics Academy) will gather a week before the festival and, having seen all works, will choose the winners. There will be three awards in both categories (professionals and novices) and Grand Prix MFK 2008. The awards will be handed to the winners on the 4th of October 2008 in ŁDK during the festival. The winners will be informed about their prizes before the festival and invited to participate in the award ceremony during the festival (October 4, 2008). The travel costs will be reimbursed by the festival.
The Grand Prix winner will receive a special award – the French Embassy will cover the cost of the journey and the stay in Angouleme in France at the Comics Festival.

Once the festival has been over, the exhibition can be shown in other Polish cities. The Grand Prix winner will be officially asked to prepare graphic elements used during the International Festival of Comics 2009 and will be requested to submit the project by the end of the year 2008. The organizers reserve for themselves the right to turn down the winner’s project if they come to the conclusion that it does not meet their expectations. In such a situation, they will ask another artist to prepare the project.

The organizers also reserve the right to publish some of the works in the catalogue of the exhibition, magazines and the Internet to promote the artists and the festival itself. The right will be reserved in the future years in which the festival will be organized so that they could use some chosen works in the jubilee issues of publications without additional permissions.
The organizers reserve the right to give the works to the sponsor of the festival so that he could on a one-off basis show them in the Internet or print them.
If you send the works it means you agree on giving your data to publishers who would like to contact you. If you are not interested in that you should send a special declaration.

After the exhibitions are finished you will be requested to collect your comics in the festival office or they will be sent back to you within three months.

The organizers: Łódź Cultural Center (ŁDK) and the Association of Artists CONTUR