Student and Professional Artists Compete for the Opportunity To Win a Monetary Prize and Have Their Poster Sold at the Festival

 Submission Form

PITTSBURGH, PA, June 30, 2026 – The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield invites artists around the world to compete in the second annual poster competition, made possible with support from Duolingo. This competition serves as an opportunity for student and professional artists to interpret the theme of the festival this year, Our America250, in visually artistic ways.

 Submission Information

This competition is open to all student and professional artists:

• Student Artists – Any person who identifies and wishes to apply as a student.
• Professional Artist – Any person who pursues active income via their artistic capabilities.

The submission form can be found here

 Deadline for submission: August 15, 2026

Jazz Festival Dates: September 17 –  20, 2026

Competition Information

Fifteen finalists will be selected, including: (6) student artist finalists, (6) professional artist finalists, (1) student winner, (1) professional winner, and (1) grand prize winner. The grand prize winner (the overall top applicant) can come from either category.

• The Grand Prize Winner will receive $1,500.00
• The Professional Winner will receive $500.00
• The Student Winner will receive $350.00

Applicants may apply as a group, however one group, as far as the application and judging process is concerned, will only represent a single submission. So, for example, if a student group is chosen as the grand prize winner, that group will receive $1500 to be split amongst the group members.

Additional Information

• All finalists will have their work featured on the PIJF website.
• Only the grand prize winner’s poster will be printed.
• One hundred (100) limited edition copies of the grand prize winner’s poster will be printed and sold at the 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.
• The grand prize winner will keep the copyright for their poster, however all profit made from selling the limited edition copies will go to the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC) and Pittsburgh International Jazz Fest.
• AWAACC will coordinate with the winner to determine exact sizing, but previous posters have been approximately 24×36 inches

All visual mediums will be accepted for this competition, however, if not presenting digitally native art, the grand prize winning artist must be able to render a high quality and print ready scan or image of the selected media. The final print resolution MUST be 300dpi and MUST be reproduction ready to be eligible to win. If the grand prize winner candidate is unable to provide a print ready work, The AWAACC will move on to another finalist who can provide the print quality required.

Additionally, all applicants are expected to comply with the following criteria (any deviation may result in your application being dismissed):

• Submissions must be original pieces of art created and conceived by the applicant(s) (Any works involving AI generated images are ineligible).
• Submissions must not contain use of brands, likeness, or personalities.
• Submissions must not contain political or religious marks or logos.
• Submission must not contain any phrases, symbols, or markings that can be considered hateful or derogatory.

The AWAACC reserves the right to dismiss any application that the committee feels does not comply with the above criteria.

The 16^th edition of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, produced by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, takes place September 17 – 20, 2026 inside AWAACC with free concerts on Saturday and Sunday in front of the Center. In addition to the ticketed events featuring the Taste of Jazz Party, the weekend’s artists include Lalah Hathaway, Terri Lyne Carrington, Orrin Evans, Sean Jones, Bernard Purdie, Eric Roberson, Lady BlackBird, Annie & The Caldwells, Nate Smith, Dwayne Dolphin, The Rakiem Walker Project, Jae Sinnett, and more.

The 2025 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival is co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, with generous support from the Mellon Foundation. Additional sponsors will be announced later this spring.

Performances by PIJF’s 2026 BUILD artists-in-residence, Eric Roberson and Theron Brown, are made possible by the Joyce and George Wein Foundation.

The second annual PIJF poster design competition is made possible by Duolingo.

Support for AWAACC’s operations is provided by the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD).

AWAACC’s programming is made possible by generous support from its donors. For a complete list, visit awaacc.org.

An independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Highmark Inc., together with its Blue-branded affiliates, collectively comprise the third largest overall Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated organization in the country with nearly 8 million members in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, West Virginia, Missouri and Kansas. Its diversified businesses serve group customer and individual needs across the United States through dental insurance and other related businesses. For more information, visit www.highmark.com. The Highmark Bright Blue Futures program’s goal is to ensure healthier, brighter, stronger futures for all, and it focuses on improving access to care, quality of life, and economic resilience in the communities the enterprise serves. For more information, visit www.highmark.com/brightbluefutures.

Duolingo is the most popular online learning platform. Its mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. Duolingo offers more than 248 total language courses for more than 40 distinct languages, from the world’s top five most spoken languages to less commonly taught languages such as Hawaiian, Navajo, and Scottish Gaelic.

The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a nonprofit cultural organization located in Pittsburgh’s cultural district that generates artistic, educational, and community initiatives that advance the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. One of the largest cultural centers in the country focused exclusively on the African American experience and the celebration of Black culture and the African diaspora, the non-profit organization welcomes more than 100,000 visitors locally and nationally. Through year-round programming across multiple genres, such as the annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Black Bottom Film Festival, AWCommunity Days, TRUTHSayers speaker series, and rotating art exhibits in its galleries, the Center provides a platform for established and emerging artists of color whose work reflects the universal issues of identity that Wilson tackled, and which still resonate today.

For more information on programs at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center and the 16^thPittsburgh International Jazz Festival, log on to pittsburghjazzfest.org or www.awaacc.org.

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Media Contacts:

Carolyn McClair PR
(212) 721-3341 | CMcClair@awaacc.org

Khalil Waldron, Director – Marketing and Communications, AWAACC
(412) 742-4771 | Kwaldron@awaacc.org