VCU Libraries is now accepting submissions for the 2023-24 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest. This annual student competition is dedicated to telling the story of banned art. and encouraging discussion of the complex relationship between art and society.

The 2024-2025 prompt:  

Imagine a comic book centered around the suppression or censorship of visual art, books, music, film or performance at a particular historical moment. You might tell this story using any one of a number of comic book genres such as real life, comedy, horror, romance, weird/uncanny, fantasy or science fiction.

Now draw only the comic book’s cover.

"A great comic book cover is like an exciting movie trailer – it makes you want to see more by telling you just enough to pique your interest. A successful cover has some kind of emotional impact and the suggestion of a terrific story that's just a page turn ahead, " said Alice Campbell, VCU Libraries' digital outreach and special projects librarian who manages the contest.

By challenging students to explore these topics of censorship through comics, VCU Libraries asserts the value of comics as a medium of expression and social commentary, and a subject for study.  

The deadline for entries is 11:59 pm on January 31, 2025. Complete details of the submission process  

Prizes, which include print and digital publication, are: a grand prize of $1,000 and three $250 prizes for artistry, storytelling and research.  

An online information session will be held via Zoom at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. Registration is required.  

More about the Jurgen Contest

• The program includes mentorship of a student editor. Minuet Curry, a student in VCU's Art Foundation Program, will be helping to manage this year's contest. 
• The inaugural Jurgen Comics Contest (2021-22) looked at the events and issues surrounding the banning of James Branch Cabell's Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice. Cabell is the namesake of VCU's Monroe Park Campus library.  In 1920, Jurgen was declared a “certain offensive, lewd, lascivious and indecent book” by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Suppressed just as Prohibition took effect, "bookleggers" sold copies of Jurgen at exorbitant prices. Two years later, courts exonerated Cabell's work, and Jurgen was again available–reaching an even wider audience due to the interest generated by the sensational trial.
• Posters of last year's winning artwork are on display on the first floor of Cabell Library. Comics from all previous winners and contest artwork may be viewed on ScholarsCompass. 
• The Jurgen Comics Contest is a program of  VCU Libraries and is supported by donors.