The JAGDA International Student Poster Award is a prestigious annual graphic design competition run by the Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA), open to individual students of any nationality enrolled in high school, technical college, specialized training college, university, or graduate school as of January 1, 2026. Each year, a theme word is announced — the 2026 theme is "Harmony" — and students create original posters that incorporate this word as a mandatory element. Submissions are digital and entry costs ¥1,000 per poster. Award categories include Grand Prix (1), Gold (2), Silver (5), Bronze (10), Jury Awards (5), Committee Member Awards (6), Special Sponsorship Awards (~20), and approximately 200 Selected Works. Selected works are exhibited at a physical exhibition in Japan from November 25 to December 7, 2026; finalists must submit printed B1-size posters for display.
Deadline check (2026-11-03): The official 2026 award page confirms the historical May 1–July 31 entry window and September 11 selected-work submission deadline; the November 25–December 7 exhibition is still upcoming. The procedure page repeats the 2026 entry and printed-poster dates but retains stray 2025 payment/selection references, so no separate payment deadline is asserted here. The Harmony theme and August 2025–July 2026 production window apply only to 2026. No 2027 entry dates or theme were found on these pages.
The organizer’s 2026 notice and JAGDA member-event announcement at the International Council of Design confirm the January 1, 2026 enrollment cutoff, specified school levels, all nationalities, and individual-only entries. These are historical 2026 eligibility rules, not confirmed 2027 requirements.