Want to be featured on the very first cover of Catbird Review?
Catbird Review is inviting artists to submit original work for our Cover Art Contest. This is your chance to have your art or photography seen by our readers, in print, online, and everywhere we share our work.
We’re open to art of all types and genres, but we especially welcome any work that might be inspired by nature, birds, and cats – and if your work features catbirds specifically, we really want to see it.
Contest Runs: Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2026
The Prizes
- First Place: The winning artwork will be featured on the cover of our very first issue, with full credit given to the artist. Plus, the winner will receive three free copies of the print issue with their winning cover art.
- Runners-Up: A select number of runners-up may be chosen to appear on our website and across our social media channels, with full credit given to the artist(s).
- Every submission will be considered for publication, not just in this issue, but in future issues as well. If we love your artwork but can’t publish it in our current issue, we will reach out to confirm future permissions.
How to Enter
Submissions accepted from Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2026
- Submit your creative work (art, illustrations, paintings, photography, and/or photos of sculptures) on our Subfolio page. Find the Category titled, “Cover Art Contest“
- File Format: JPG, PNG, or TIFF
- Minimum dimensions: We’re searching for our next cover art, so please submit work that will be high quality at cover size — at least 1500px on the longest side.
Rights & Usage
If your work is chosen as one of our winning art pieces, you grant Catbird Review a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce and display your winning work on our website and social media channels, with credit given to you as the artist. Submission does not transfer copyright; you retain ownership and full rights to your work.
If your piece is selected as the winning cover art, you additionally grant Catbird Review the exclusive right to use that piece as the cover of Issue 01, Spring 2027 for a period of 1 year, after which those exclusive rights expire, though we may continue to reference or display past covers in archival and “past issues” contexts.
We will always credit you by name when your work is used.
While we hope to find a cover for our first issue among contest submissions, Catbird Review reserves the right to use other artwork for the cover of Issue 01 if no contest submissions meet print standards.