How to Enter the 2026 Qatar-Japan Illustration Contest: Rules, Prizes & Deadlines

The Embassy of Japan in Qatar, along with Geekdom and Nakama, officially announces the 2026 Qatar-Japan Illustration Contest. The second edition of the competition has returned to highlight the strength of cultural relations between Qatar and Japan and artistic creativity. 

The contest is open to all Qatari citizens and age group residents and all levels of professional artists and young aspiring illustrators are accepted. For both digital or traditional art enthusiasts, this competition is an exciting event where you get your creation seen by the top cultural organizations.

This Year’s Theme: “Crossroads of Legends”

In the 2026 Qatar-Japan Illustration Contest, one purpose will be looking for an original character, theme from both Qatari and Japanese cultures. Artists are encouraged to merge folklore, mythology, traditions, costumes and storytelling techniques from both countries into creating one unique character.

The criteria of the competition are originality and creativity and the artist is free to sketch or paint the theme in his/her own style with due consideration given to the cultural background of the theme.

Contest Rules You Must Follow

Organized according to strict rules which guarantee a fair competition for all categories. The most crucial guidelines are full prohibition on AI creations. Illustrations produced with generative AI tools will not count towards the award.

The shortlisted finalists and winners will have to submit work-in-progress photographs/videos of the creative process. In addition, all characters must be completely original. Anime, manga, game or movie characters must exist prior to the creation of the clip or cartoon and may not be copyrighted characters redone. Individual participants may have 2 entries.

Artwork Specifications

Before submitting your illustration, make sure it meets the official technical requirements. Digital works should be created at a resolution of 350 DPI with at least 3000 × 4243 resolution and come in JPEG or PNG format 10MB or less.

Artwork for the traditional pieces should be A4 size so that it is scanned clearly and sent to the mark scheme. There is also a competition for those 13 years old and younger, dedicated to children.

How to Submit Your Entry?

To get started, make a few artworks that follow the format. If it is too big to email, you can upload it to a file sharing service like WeTransfer and add the link to download it.

Submit to [email protected], including your full name, age, phone number, place of residence in Qatar, your description of your character’s story and what inspired you in creating its design. They can also post their artwork on their Instagram using the hashtags #japanemb_qatar, #geekdom_qa and #nakama.qa to get more visibility.

Prizes and Recognition

Winners in Digital, Traditional and Children’s categories will get unique prizes from Teyseer Motors, Suzuki, Fnac Qatar, Daiso Japan and Iwatani Corporation.

In addition to prizes, selected works of art will be exhibited publically by Geekdom and Nakama as well as on the official communication channels of the Embassy of Japan in Qatar.

Don’t Miss the Deadline

Artists have until Thursday, August 27, 2026, to submit their entries. Please note that late submissions will not be accepted, so it’s perfectly okay to submit the work of your artwork near the deadline, but please make sure you go over all of the submission details before you send in your files.

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