Competition. Album covers as art that lasts forever

In a world where music often reaches us through streaming, and album covers shrink to thumbnail size on screens, we naturally wonder: Are vinyl record covers still important? Certainly, those who submit their work to the 30/30 Competition will have an answer to that question.

The 10th Anniversary Edition of the 30/30 Competition

On February 19, the jubilee 10th edition of the 30/30 Competition for the best album cover kicked off. For a decade, the competition’s goal has been to select the 30 best graphic design projects for album covers from the past year. The chosen projects will be featured in a post-competition exhibition scheduled for the summer at the Gallery in the Courtyard of the Old Brewery in Poznań.

What matters to us is the fact that Polvinyl.pl and the editorial team of PanWinyl.pl are the media patrons of the jubilee 10th edition of the 30/30 Competition. We are sponsoring this event for the second time. It is a unique time when we celebrate a decade of searching for graphic gems in music.

During the exhibition’s vernissage, the winners will be announced by the competition’s jury, which will award three main prizes, the Rosław Szaybo Award, and the Special Award for editing. The Audience Award idea will also continue, with the winner chosen through voting by gallery visitors during the post-competition exhibition. The jubilee edition promises a unique surprise, the details of which will be revealed by the competition organizers at a later date.

History of the 30/30

Competition The 30/30 Competition took place for the first time in 2015, and one of its creators was Marcin Kostaszuk, a long-time music journalist for “Głos Wielkopolski,” currently an employee of the City Office in Poznań, deputy director of the Department of Culture, and a true music enthusiast.

The idea of the competition was also co-created by Rosław Szaybo, a legend of Polish and global album cover design. It is to this artist, associated with Poznań, that the competition owes its unique character and the main guiding idea of seeking the perfect synthesis of music and graphics.

The competition’s jury has been composed of esteemed graphic designers, photographers, designers of highly regarded album covers, musicians, and professionals dedicated to design topics, along with journalists for a decade.

Competition Submissions

The submission period for the jubilee edition will conclude in March 2024. All entries meeting the formal requirements will be submitted for jury evaluation. The jury’s verdict will be announced by the end of April 2024, after which preparations for the exhibition, always the grand finale of each competition edition, will commence.

Competition Rules

• Who can submit: The competition is open to graphic designers, designers, and all individuals who worked on album cover design in the preceding year.
• Submission deadline: All works must be submitted to the competition by March 24, 2024. Entries can be made through the official 30/30 Competition website.
• Evaluation criteria: Artistic merit, originality of the idea, typography quality, craftsmanship, consistency of the graphic concept with the musical content.

All information is available on the competition website https://konkurs3030.pl/.

Organizers

The organizer of the 30/30 Competition is the City Publishing House of Posnania.

Media Patrons:

• Radio Afera
• Portal Winylowy
• Polish Graphic Design
• Freshmag
• Grafmag
• SZUM
• FONT nie czcionka
• Kultura u podstaw
• kultura.poznan.pl
• Miesięcznik IKS
• PanWinyl.pl
• POLVINYL.pl
• Honorowy Patronat Prezydenta Miasta Poznania