Posters have long been a powerful medium for visual storytelling, evolving from the illustrated narratives of the 19th and 20th centuries into a contemporary visual language that designers use to communicate ideas, messages, and cultural perspectives. Today, poster design continues to play an important role in visual communication, combining strong concepts, typography, and imagery to create meaningful impact. The UDA International Poster Design Competition provides an excellent opportunity for designers to showcase their creative work and share their visual voices with a global audience. Each year, outstanding submissions are recognized, and selected winning posters are preserved by the UDA as part of its historical design collection. If you are interested in participating, you are encouraged to submit your strongest poster design and contribute your work to this growing international design archive.
How to Enter
- Download the entry form here and fill out the form
- Read the submission requirement below and follow the submission guideline
- Create your submission folder and name the folder as “POSTER_john-doe”
The folder should contain both your entry form file and your project file - Compress your submission folder as a zip file: “POSTER_john-doe.zip”
- Submit your zip file to UDA through applyuda@gmail.com
UDA-Poster 2026 Jury
UDA invited nationally and internationally distinguished designers to serve as jurors for the UDA Annual International Design Competitions. Visit uniteddesigns.org to see the list of jurors.
| Juror | Job title |
| John Coy | AIGA Medalist, CEO Coy LA, Los Angeles, USA |
| Alan Colvin | Creative Director at CUE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| Joachim Muller-Lance | Creative Director at Kame Design, Germany |
| Marc Guitart | CEO & Founder, Barcelona (Spain) and Brandlond (U.K.) |
| Martin Han | Chief of Business Officer at MOVIATION, Korea |
DESIGN CATEGORIES
Designers can choose Design Categories 1, 2, and 3.
Students can select Design Categories 1 and/or 3.
1. Commercial Poster
2. Experimental Poster
3. Environmental Awareness Poster
DESIGN & SUBMISSION SPECIFICATION
Please follow this design specification. We can only guarantee your submission if you follow the submission specification. You can only submit bitmap images (A1-size JPEG with CMYK 300 DPI resolution). No vector images. (A1: 23.4″ x 33.1″)
Step 1. You must use the following method for naming your files (JPEG design file & MS Excel entry form file):
Filename: Design Category_FirstName LastName_Title
Examples:
| Category | Student (& File Name) | Professional |
| Commercial Poster | X | X |
| Experimental Poster | X | |
| Environmental Awareness Poster | X | X |
| Student | STU_John Doe_Project Title.zip (to contain both project jpg file and entry form excel file) |
COM_John Doe_Music Festival, EXP_John Doe_Music Festival, ENV_John Doe_Music Festival, STU_John Doe_Music Festival
Step 2. Must save your file as a JPEG file (A1 size, CMYK, 300 DPI) with ‘Image Options: Quality: 12 Maximum’ and ‘Format Options: Baseline (“Standard”)’
Step 3. Submit your design (JPEG file) & Entry Form (MS Excel file) via email to applyuda@gmail.com.
Step 4. Please send your submission fee to our PayPal account: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/udalliance. Please make sure you have the correct name and address.
SUBMISSION FEE
Professional Designers
– Single Entry: USD $20
– Multiple Entries (Max 5 entries) from one designer: USD $60
Design Students
– Single Entry: USD $10
– Multiple Entries (Max 5 entries) from one student: USD $30
If your instructor is a UDA member, you can submit up to three entries for free. You’re eligible to submit up to three posters at no cost if they were created in one of my classes. Please use the provided entry forms when submitting your work.
DEADLINES
Submission Deadline: Monday, May 11, 2026
Award Announcement: Monday, June 29, 2026
UDA will announce all awarded designs at www.uniteddesigns.org.
AWARD CERTIFICATE & PUBLICATION
All winners receive an Award Certificate via email.
All winners are permanent collections of the UDA archive.
