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Calendar of calls with age limits for young creators: 2026 and 2027 forecast

Verified as of 30 October 2026. This is an annual resource: each edition is replaced by the next. Should any information change, please notify me and I shall update it with the date of the amendment.

There are grants and competitions intended for young creators, and almost all have an age limit, a residency requirement and conditions regarding the rights to your work. This resource gathers the 2026 calls that I have been able to verify on official websites for comic, illustration and visual arts creators. As of 30 October 2026, the four with age limits have already closed. It is useful to know when they closed, in order to monitor those for 2027 in advance.

Summary

Call	Organiser	Age	Residency or affiliation	Closing in 2026	Funding
Injuve Grants for Young Creation 2026-2027	Spanish Youth Institute	Over 18 and under 30; up to 35 for entrepreneurship	Spanish nationality or legal residency in Spain	12 May	Between 3,000 and 10,000 euros depending on the category
Iniciarte 2026	Andalusian Agency of Cultural Institutions	18 to 35 years of age	Andalusia	7 July	Production up to 3,000 euros
MálagaCrea 2026	Youth Department, Málaga City Council	15 to 35 years of age	Born in, resident in, studying in, or working in the province of Málaga	Visual arts, 26 March; comic, 27 April	43,100 euros in total municipal funding
Manga Contest 2026	FICOMIC, within the framework of Manga Barcelona	18 to 35 years of age	Spain	25 October	Trip to Manga Barcelona and trophy

Injuve Grants for Young Creation 2026-2027

Organiser and date. The Youth Institute published the call on 10 April 2026. It closed on 12 May at 23:59, following an extension.
Eligibility. Over 18 and under 30 years of age, up to 35 for entrepreneurship, with Spanish nationality or legal residency in Spain.
Disciplines. Performing arts, visual arts, comics, illustration, design, literature, and music.
Funding. Up to 3,000 euros for research, 5,000 for production and mobility, 7,000 for curatorship, and 10,000 for entrepreneurship.
Rights. I have not located a clause regarding the assignment of rights in the open text. Assignment is not presumed upon receipt of the grant.
Next edition. The official series is annual and a 2027-2028 call may be expected. It is neither announced nor confirmed.

Iniciarte 2026

Organiser and date. The Andalusian Agency of Cultural Institutions, of the Regional Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Regional Government of Andalusia, published it in the BOJA no. 114 and on its official website on 16 June 2026. It closed on 7 July.
Eligibility. From 18 to 35 years of age, with residency in Andalusia.
Disciplines. Visual arts: painting, drawing, comics, sculpture, installation, photography, video, digital arts, and ephemeral architecture.
Funding. A production grant of up to 3,000 euros including VAT, and remuneration for exhibition rights of 1,200 euros for individual exhibitions and 700 per artist for collective ones.
Rights. There is an "assignment of intellectual property rights during the exhibition period".
Next edition. This is a recurring programme. The 2027 call is not announced.

MálagaCrea 2026

Organiser and date. The Youth Department of Málaga City Council published its terms and conditions in 2026 and a statement on 23 February.
Eligibility. From 15 to 35 years of age, both inclusive, who were born in, reside in, are studying in during the 2025-2026 academic year or work in the province of Málaga. Includes minors.
Disciplines. Performing arts, visual arts, comics, short film, gastronomy, musical performance, literature, fashion, contemporary music, and video games.
Closings. Visual arts, 26 March; comic, 27 April. The remaining categories closed between 23 March and 28 July 2026.
Funding. The terms state the municipal contribution is 43,100 euros, while the press release states 44,600 when including external contributions. These figures do not align.
Rights. The terms state that promotional and exhibition activities do not generate additional remuneration. I have not located the complete clause by category regarding reproduction and communication.
Next edition. The programme has been running for over three decades. The 2027 edition is not officially announced.

Manga Contest 2026

The FICOMIC contest closed on 25 October 2026. It required applicants to be between 18 and 35 years of age and to reside in Spain. Its rights clause is the most extensive in this group: authors assign to FICOMIC, "automatically and for one year," all intellectual property and exploitation rights for the submitted works, without remuneration. This is explained in Manga contests and portfolio reviews in Spain.

Open now, but without an upper age limit

Culture Moves Europe 2026-2027 funds individual mobility for creators. The call opened on 1 October 2026, has monthly cut-off dates, and closes on 30 April 2027 at 23:59, Central European Time. It requires a minimum age of 18 and sets no maximum, therefore it is not a youth-specific call. It requires legal residency in a Creative Europe country and covers, among others, the visual arts. It provides 85 euros per day plus a travel grant of 400 euros for up to 5,000 kilometres and 800 euros for distances beyond that. I have not located the clause regarding intellectual property on the summary page: it must be consulted in the call document, which spans 52 pages.

Other calls that are not youth-specific

National Awards for Comics and Illustration. The National Comic Award, from the Ministry of Culture, distinguishes works by Spanish authors published in Spain and is endowed with 30,000 euros. It was awarded on 21 September 2026 and has no youth-specific limit.
Comic Barcelona Awards. These are for published work, without a general age limit. Comic Barcelona 2027 will be on 7, 8 and 9 May, according to its website, and the terms and conditions for the 2027 youth competitions have not been published.

Not located

I have not located a 2026-2027 call with an age limit for these disciplines at the Andalusian Youth Institute, the Málaga Provincial Council or the Torremolinos City Council.

When to look in 2027

The forecast is based exclusively on the 2026 dates; no 2027 edition was announced on the date of verification.

From February to April. Injuve published theirs on 10 April and MálagaCrea on 23 February, with closings from March.
In June. Iniciarte was released on 16 June.
Towards October. The FICOMIC Manga Contest closed on 25 October.

A sound practice is to note a review of each website in your calendar for the end of January.

How to read a call

Age. How old are you on the relevant date: the closing date or the calendar year?
Territorial affiliation. Is it sufficient to have been born in, reside in, or study in a place? What document serves as proof?
Discipline. Does it include comics or illustration?
Funding. Is it a grant, a prize, or a contract? Is VAT included?
Rights. Are you assigning rights, which ones, for how long, and for what remuneration? A comparison with legal limits can be found in Comic publishing contract.
Minors. If you are under 18 years of age, can you participate and with what authorisation?

Points requiring clarification

The rights assignment clause for Injuve, MálagaCrea, and Culture Moves.
The authorisation required by MálagaCrea for minor participants.
The 2027 calls for all entries.
Calls from the Andalusian Youth Institute, the Provincial Council of Málaga, and Torremolinos.

An open conversation

This calendar gathers calls verified on official websites. If you manage a call or are aware of one that is missing, you may write to me.

Sources

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