Will your design be the next front cover?

Entries to the front cover competition are now closed.

Two things we know: 

1. With apprenticeships becoming more popular than ever, it is competitive out there.  
2. The front cover of the Apprenticeship Guide is getting a little… uh… boring. 

Give your arts, media, and design students a boost early on in their creative careers by giving them the chance to design the front cover of the Apprenticeship Guide 2025! 

The Apprenticeship Guide lands on the desk of every school in England and is the comprehensive guide to apprenticeships. Give your students a headstart on their portfolio with a credit in a national publication. 

The theme: ‘What inspires you?’

The Apprenticeship Guide is all about revealing the world of apprenticeships to our readers and inspiring them to take the leap.

This year’s theme is ‘What inspires you?’—a canvas for your students to express their unique perspective, passions, and sources of inspiration. Whether it’s nature, technology, community, or a combination of elements that fuel your creativity, this is their chance to bring it to life.

What’s in it for you?

Apart from the incredible exposure and the honour of having their design on the front cover, the winner will receive a £50 Amazon voucher for personal use.

And if that’s not enough, the winning student’s school will also receive 10 copies of The Apprenticeship Guide 2025.

All prizes will be distributed via the named school staff contact.

Rules and requirements

• Open to 15 to 18 year olds attending school in England and currently studying arts, design, or media. 
• Entries must be submitted by 4.59pm on Friday 22nd March 2024 via the entry form. 
• Entries which do not conform to the requested technical specifications may not be considered.
• Students may not enter themselves; students must submit through a school staff member e.g. teacher or careers advisor. 
• You’ll need to fill out all the required information in order to submit the form. 
• If you are entering on behalf of multiple students, please fill out and submit a new form for each student. 
• All files submitted must be the student’s own original work.
• AI-generated art is not allowed and will not be considered.
• Entries will undergo the Apprenticeship Guide editing process, meaning the final published product may differ from the original student submission. We’ll try to keep any changes minimal. 
• Submitting an entry to the Apprenticeship Guide front cover competition gives Barker Brooks Communications Ltd. intellectual property rights of the artwork. That means it gives Barker Brooks the exclusive right to reproduce, republish and alter the artwork in any future commercial or advertising materials, in perpetuity. By submitting an entry, you acknowledge that no monetary compensation will be given in exchange. This applies to all entries. 

Specifications

It doesn’t matter if the artwork is produced on InDesign, CorelDRAW, Canva, or is a scanned artwork. However, because we are working on a printed publication, we recommend that the entry adheres to the following technical specifications to the best of your ability:

• Entries should be submitted digitally, as PDF or high-res TIF or JPEG files
• Artwork dimensions – 175mm (w) x 160mm (h)
• Students should include a 3mm bleed to the artwork
• Artwork should be print-ready, so resolution must be 300dpi
• File size should not exceed 128MB. We recommend using a JPEG file if you’re struggling to keep your file size down.

Entries which do not conform to the above technical specifications may not be considered.

Still have questions?

To get in touch regarding the front cover competition, please email hello@apprenticeshipguide.co.uk.

Entries to the front cover competition are now closed.