XVIII LEA Festival
Call for entries – Competition
Third International Exhibition of Graphic Humor LEA
The XVIII LEA Festival is pleased to invite you to the 3rd LEA International Exhibition of Graphic Humor, to be held in Athens from June 9th to July 20th, 2026 at the Cervantes Institute of Athens.
Rules
Participation
The competition is open to all cartoonists worldwide, over 18 years of age, regardless of nationality, religion, gender and education.
Graphic Humor Theme: “Literature and Freedom”
Submission Send your entry by email to the following address:
Each participant may submit a maximum of one digital artwork to humorgrafico@lea-festival.com. The file size should be A4 (21 x 29.5 cm), 314 dpi, in JPEG or PDF format. The maximum file size is 3 MB; submissions larger than 3 MB will not be opened. The file name must include the author’s name and nationality. The email must also include the following information: name, address, email address, and a brief CV of 100 words (in .doc format, NOT PDF). Condensed files (zip, rar, etc.) will NOT be accepted.
Graphic humor works not named as requested will be automatically disqualified.
Submitted graphic humor works must not have previously won any other awards. Only original works created using drawing techniques will be accepted. Works incorporating photographs, photomontages, digital manipulations based on photographic images, or works generated wholly or partially using artificial intelligence tools will not be accepted.
Works that pass the pre-selection phase will be published on the official LEA Festival digital platforms and social media channels.
Deadline
The deadline for submissions is March 27th, 2026.
Awards and Recognition
First prize: A trip to Mexico to the 2026 Guadalajara International Book Fair, as part of the International Cartoon and Comic Strip Encounter (EICH) and the University Center for Art, Architecture and Design (CUAAD) of the University of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (all expenses paid).
Second prize: 500 euros donated by the Quevedo Institute of Humor Arts of the General Foundation of the University of Alcalá, Spain.
Exhibition
The exhibition will be held in Athens, Greece, at the Cervantes Institute of Athens from June 9 to July 17, 2026.
Catalogue
All participants will be able to download the catalogue in PDF format from our website.
Other Conditions
The organizers reserve the right to use the works for various purposes without obligation of compensation. The works will be included in the archive and permanent exhibition portal. The exhibition will have an itinerant character and will be shown in various locations throughout Mexico and Ibero-American countries. By submitting their work, authors agree to these rules.
• Submitting a drawing to the contest constitutes acceptance of all the provisions of the following rules.
• Participation in this contest is voluntary and free of charge.
• All participants must be of legal age.
• Works that do not comply with the conditions specified in these rules or that are offensive, discriminatory, or promote racial, ethnic, or religious hatred will not be accepted into the contest.
• Each author may submit only one A4-sized work.
• By participating in the contest, each author agrees to the free transfer of the submitted works to the organizer and confirms that they are the author of the submitted works and that their submission to the contest does not infringe upon the rights of third parties.
• Submission of the work authorizes the LEA contest to use the images in exhibitions, publications, social media, and platforms or formats where the promotion of the event is required.
• The specified submission deadline may be modified for the benefit of the participants and extended without the need to modify these rules. The organizer will notify the participants of any change in the deadline.
• When evaluating the entries, the jury will consider, in particular, the artistic merit of the drawing, its accuracy in interpreting the theme, and its humorous aspect.
• If the organizer, co-organizer, or jury members receive information, after or before the awards ceremony, that a work submitted to the contest constitutes plagiarism or violates the law or the provisions of these rules, the organizer has the right to:
– Suspend the award or the awarding of the prize until these doubts are clarified.
– Decide not to award a prize in the contest.
The winner of the second prize must be the same titular of the bank account in which the prize will be deposited.
By participating in the contest, the participant declares that they hold all copyrights to the submitted work and that the work does not infringe any personal rights, copyrights, or other rights of third parties. In the event of claims related to the submitted work, the participant releases the organizer from any obligation arising in this regard, agrees to join the organizer in disputes related thereto, and will cover the costs incurred by the organizer in relation to third-party claims related to the contest work.
The organizer reserves the right to modify these regulations:
• In case of modification of the relevant legal provisions,
• In emergency situations that could not be foreseen in advance,
• In each case for the benefit of the participants.
The organizer is not responsible for the provision of incorrect or false data by the participants, which may prevent the prize from being sent.
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The LEA Festival is organized by the non-profit company LEA Festival Intercultural Development and the Cervantes Institute of Athens.
The LEA Graphic Humor Exhibition is organized by the non-profit company LEA Festival Desarrollo Intercultural, in collaboration with the International Cartoon and Comic Strip Encounter (EICH), the University Center for Art, Architecture and Design (CUAAD) of the University of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and the Quevedo Institute of Humor Arts (IQH) of the General Foundation of the University of Alcalá, Spain (UAH). The exhibition will initially be held at the Cervantes Institute of Athens, and is curated by the Colombian-Spanish cartoonist Adriana Mosquera (nani).
The LEA Festival, since its foundation, counts with the collaboration of the Embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Uruguay and Venezuela and the Honorary Consulate General of Colombia in Athens.
The LEA Festival is the only major cultural event in Greece with a Hellenic-Latin American literary content. It is also one of the most outstanding literary events in the city of Athens since 2008, and has also been held since 2012 on the island of Lefkada; finally, since 2022 it has also taken place in Patras, Thessaloniki and Crete and since 2025, in Cyprus.
Press and communication
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LEA: +30 210 985 9682
