TICKETS ARE CLOSED!

Pitchfest Day Panel/Celebration tickets will soon be posted.
Stay tuned!

For more information about the KCU Pitchfest competition, click here to read the details.

Please review the Submission Rules and Guidelines before submitting to Pitchfest.

Registration is limited to one ticket per person. If you select multiple tickets, only one ticket will be processed.

One-on-one critique tickets INCLUDE a Pitchfest submission ticket. You only need to purchase one ticket.

On checkout, login to your existing KCU website account or create one.
Note: This account is separate from your Mighty Network account.

 

 

A Kids & YA Graphic Novel Pitch
Showcase and Industry Panel

Judges | Guidlelines PDF | Terms & Eligibility | Pitching Tips | FAQ

Previous Showcases: 2025 | 2023 | 2022

This high-profile showcase features a curated online gallery of winning submissions, handpicked by our jury! Submissions open in February, and winners will be revealed at a live event in April 25, 2026.
We reveal our winners at a live Showcase Event with our judges. You’ll also have the opportunity to book a one-on-one pitch session with a juror—an agent or editor who’s already reviewed your work—on the day of the Showcase reveal.
After the main event, we promote the Pitchfest Gallery to hundreds of agents, editors, and art directors across the industry!

 

 

 


Jury of Agents and Publishers

Current list of judges. This year, nearly all will be offering 15 minute One-on-Ones. Names with an * asterisk are not offering One-on-Ones. Read all their bios here.

    • Adam Wallenta, Senior Editor, Papercutz
    • Alexandra Weiss, Literary Agent, Azantian Literary
    • Andrea Colvin, President, Andrea Colvin Creative Agency
    • Angelica Busanet, Assistant Editor, Abrams Books
    • Celina Sun, Associate Editor, Penguin Workshop
    • Cynthia (Cindy) Harris, Editorial Assistant, Andrews McMeel

 

    • Emily Deluge, Editor, Chronicle Books
    • Erica Rand Silverman*, Senior Literary Agent, Stimola Literary
    • Ginee Seo, VP Editorial Director, Ten Speed Young Readers
    • Ivan Taurisano, Assistant Editor, First Second
    • Jane Chun, Literary Agent, Transatlantic Agency
    • Jas Perry, Agent, Looking Glass Literary
    • Jemiscoe Chambers-Black, Founder & Agent, Starling Literary + Media
    • Jenna Lettice*, Senior Editor, Random House Books
    • Jenniea Carter, Literary Manager, New Leaf Literary and Media
    • Josh Sippie, Editor, Harper Alley
    • Lydia Nguyễn, Assistant Editor, Abrams Comic Arts
    • Susan Hawk*, Literary Agent, Upstart Crow Literary

 

Important Dates

Feb 12: Registration + submissions open
Feb 23: Registration closes
Feb 27: Submissions close
April 25: Gallery reveal + live industry panel

Ticket Price

$120 – Pitchfest Submission + Live Industry Panel
$100 – One-on-One Add on
$59 – Gallery Reveal + Live Industry Panel Only (the Gallery Reveal and Panel is included in the Pitchfest Submission ticket)

Note: we offer a 50% off discount code for students, international parity, or anyone experiencing financial hardship (the discount is applicable for the Submission fee, but is NOT applicable for One-on-Ones)

Pitchfest Gallery
Submission Terms & Eligibility

*Download the Submission & Guidelines PDF here*

Eligibility

  • You must be 16+ years old.
  • Authors and illustrators of any nationality are eligible to submit a project (we currently have jurors from the United States, UK, and Australia).
  • Pitches need to be in English so our judges may evaluate them.
  • Your pitch must be unpublished and not acquired by a publisher at the time of submission.
  • You may be agented or unagented.
  • AI-created art is not permitted.
  • Kids-YA graphic novel projects of any length and hybrid-picture books in comic format are eligible.
  • We welcome author-illustrator partnerships and teams; unfortunately writer-only pitches are not eligible.

The Voting Process

A jury of agents and publishers will look through the submitted projects and vote. The projects which receive the most votes will go into the showcase in the order of vote count. The Pitchfest Showcase will be revealed during the live event and the top 5 voted projects will be presented.

Here is an article explaining how the 2022 Pitchfest Voting happened. Please note that the judging procedure has not been finalized and is subject to change.

The top 50 submitted pitches will be displayed in the final gallery. We will link a separate gallery with all submitted pitches. To see how it will be displayed, review our 2025 Showcase.

Your submission will include the following:

  • A short synopsis of your graphic novel (750 characters max)
  • A cover image or cover page
  • Three to Six spreads (6-12 pages)
  • A short bio (500-characters max)
  • Headshot (photo or drawing)
  • A description of why you created this specific graphic novel project and/or what it means to you (750 characters max)
  • Two to three comp titles. 

Note: the character count includes spaces.

SPECS:

  • One (1) 600x600px at 72 dpi (.jpg or .jpeg) thumbnail image of your cover art to be placed in the Gallery view. Your name and book title is required to be on the cover thumbnail.
  • A minimum of three spreads/six pages and maximum of six spreads/twelve pages (.jpg or .jpeg). A spread is composed of two pages side by side, like looking at an open book. Each spread must be complete pieces of work and no larger than 1800px wide at 72-96 dpi. Sequential pages are strongly recommended. Each individual file size should not exceed 5mb.
  • No concept art, alternative cover art, spotlight illustrations, scripts, or other pitch-related material is allowed. Only comic pages are allowed. The showcase is intended as a quick to the point pitch teaser.

 

Here is an example by Brigitta Blair:

Frequently Asked Questions

YES, all graphic novels for children up to and including YA graphic novels are welcomed. If your project is a picture book in comics format, select the "Early Reader" category.

We would strongly recommend they be sequential but they don't have to be from the start of the book.

No, we are only accepting pitches in graphic novel format for this competition.

The synopsis is limited to 750 characters. Here's an example of a 714-character synopsis of Gene Luen Yang's AMERICAN BORN CHINESE:

"American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny’s life with his yearly visits. These three interweaving stories, spanning from the 16th century to the present and seemingly unrelated, come together at the end with a wholly unexpected twist. An action-packed modern fable which explores issues of Chinese American identity, anti-Asian racism, and assimilation.”

Teams should submit together, and only need one ticket. For example, a writer and illustrator working together on a pitch should submit ONE complete submission. You will have extra space to submit an additional bio for each member of the team.

Creative teams of a writer and artist are welcome to submit to KCU Pitchfest. Unfortunately, script-only pitches that do not have any sample art are not eligible. If you are a writer working with an artist, both you and the artist must be credited and you must submit as a team.

Yes, we do! Email hello@kidscomicsunite.com if you are a student, experiencing financial hardship, or need international parity pricing. We will send you a discount code.

There will be a Showcase gallery with the pitches that received the most votes. All submitted pitches will also be displayed in a separate, full gallery. The Showcase and Gallery will be hosted on the KCU website and stay up indefinitely. You can find last year’s Showcase Gallery on the website here.

While we recognize the top vote getters with badges on the gallery, there is not a winner in the traditional sense of receiving a big prize.

The purpose of this event is to get creators' work in front of agents and editors. This happens in two ways:

1. A distinguished panel of agents and editors will review the submissions and vote on them.

2. The final gallery will be promoted to hundreds of agents, editors, art directors, and other industry pros.

No. However, we suggest that you have a full pitch ready to submit to agents or editors if they follow up with you about your work.

You may submit one (1) pitch as an individual or team.

Yes!

Yes, we are requiring all projects to be in English.

No, we will keep your pitch in the gallery and label it as “Acquired”. Also, if you get an agent, we can change your profile status from "Unagented" to "Agented." Please let us know if it is! Email hello@kidscomicsunite.com and we will make the adjustment.

We keep the gallery up indefinitely, so all past years will be viewable.

Please contact Lisa Lowry at hello@kidscomicsunite.com with any questions related to the submission guidelines or registration.