Divine Designs: Between the Covers
Competition and Exhibition celebrating the 73 books of the Bible
From cover to cover, we are celebrating the Bible. In 73 books – from Genesis to Revelation – is the greatest story ever told. Our passion is to bring them alive through the medium of art in this unique competition and exhibition.
We invite artists, graphic designers and illustrators from across the UK to design the front covers of any of the 73 books of the Bible. We want to celebrate creativity and innovation and promote a greater visual awareness and understanding of the Bible today. We welcome multiple submissions (up to four), and all selected entries will create the final exhibition.
We offer seven cash prizes with an overall winner decided by our Panel of Judges. A full colour catalogue of the 73 selected covers will be published.
Our exhibition runs from 10th February 2027 to 9th April 2027.
All details and criteria are below.
Why 73 books?
The Bible or Sacred Scriptures isn’t just one book but a Library. Although the core of the Bible is common to all Christian churches, there are some differences in the number of books included in each Canon.
In the Catholic Church it contains 73 books:
- 46 books in the Old Testament and
- 27 books in the New Testament.
In the Protestant Church the Bible contains 66 books:
- 39 books in the Old Testament and
- 27 books in the New Testament,
While we respect these differences, as an ecumenical partnership between the Catholic Bishops’ Conference: God who Speaks, St John’s Waterloo and Art + Christianity, we want to be as inclusive as possible as we celebrate the Bible.
The Bible
The Bible is often called the Scriptures, Holy Scripture or Sacred Scripture. ‘Scripture’ refers more to its divine nature as ‘sacred writings’ whereas the word Bible in Greek (biblios) simply means ‘book’ and refers more to its physical nature.
The Bible was put together nearly 2,000 years ago in 3 different languages: Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.
The Old Testament
The Pentateuch or the first 5 books (also known as ‘The Law’): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These contain some of the classic stories of Scripture, about the creation of the world, the Fall of Adam and Eve, the call of Abraham, and Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.
The Histories: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit*, Judith*, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees*. These books tell the story of the history of Israel, including the entry into the Promised Land, the reigns of various kings, the exile to Babylon and eventual return, as well as struggles against foreign empires.
The Wisdom and Poetry books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom*, Ecclesiasticus* (also known as Sirach or Ben Sirach). This collection of songs, poetry and proverbs contains both practical and religious wisdom for daily living.
The Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch*, Ezekiel and Daniel. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The role of the prophets was to share God’s word – they reminded the people and their leaders of their unique vocation as God’s chosen people. Their challenging messages were not often welcomed.
*These books are only found in the Catholic Bible.
The New Testament
The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And the Acts of the Apostles. (Mark was written first but Matthew comes first in the layout of the Bible).
Acts is included here as it’s considered to be a ‘part two’ of Luke’s gospel. Since these books reveal the life and words of Jesus most directly, the Gospels are the most important part of our Scriptures.
The Letters: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews. Many of these Letters are attributed to St. Paul. He wrote them to Christian communities throughout the Roman Empire (in cities such as Ephesus and regions such as Thessalonica), as well as to some individuals (Timothy, Titus and Philemon). James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude and Revelation (the Apocalypse). These Letters were written to the wider Church rather than primarily meant for specific communities.
For further information about the books of the Bible, click here.
Criteria
Artworks must respond to the title Divine Designs: Between the Covers. We are inviting cover designs for up to four books of the 73 books of the Bible.
- The judges are especially looking for colourful, vibrant and creative responses.
- For innovative interpretation in the cover design of the book or books’ genres and contents.
- For integrity to the exhibition theme.
- We welcome up to four submissions.
Artists’ profile
Artists must be resident in the United Kingdom and aged 18 years or over as of 31st December 2026.
Artists will need to send:
- The book title(s) of the cover or covers they are designing and a short description of their artwork(s) in up to 150 words.
- A short artist’s biography in up to 150 words.
- One high-resolution jpeg of each of their artwork(s) in at least 300 dpi at A3 size.
Dpi stands for Dots per inch and measures the density of ink dots a printer places on paper to determine image, print, and scan resolution. A higher Dpi (typically 300+) produces clearer, sharper, and more detailed prints. - Artists are allowed to submit up to four different designs in A3 Portrait format. Each submission should be for a different book of the Bible (e.g. one design per book title). If submitting more than one cover, they must include books from both the Old and New Testaments.
Prizes
There will be seven cash prizes awarded to artists as decided by a Panel of Judges:
Four Old Testament Prizes for best in category:
- Pentateuch (Law) – £500
- History – £500
- Wisdom and Poetry – £500
- The Prophets – £500
Two New Testament Prizes for best in category:
- The Gospels and Acts – £500
- Letters and Revelation – £500
Winner of the best overall cover: £500
Benefits for artists in contributing to this exciting initiative include:
- Visibility of the artist and their artwork.
- Promotion of a greater visual awareness and understanding of the Bible today.
- A safe space to explore and debate inclusive faith issues.
- Our organisational support to promote artists and their work to lead art workshops, contribute to discussion panels, and help to create educational resources for schools.
- Artworks chosen for the exhibition to feature in an exhibition catalogue.
- Opportunities for artists to sell their work during and after the exhibition.
Format and size
- We welcome submissions in both 2D art and photography formats on paper only. (Maximum of 250gsm). We will not accept cardboard.
- We do not accept any AI generated or AI supported artworks.
- We will not accept any other media including video and performance art.
- The size should be A3 Portrait format (29.7cm width by 42.0cm height). We will not accept Landscape format. It must be unframed. The exhibition hanging will be the responsibility of the organisers.
- Work must be completely dry. Original prints must be unique or numbered in an edition (not more than 50).
- Initial selection will be done through high-resolution JPEG photograph files of the artworks; do not send in the original artwork in the first instance.
Pre-selection and adjudication
- From the digital images submitted, an expert panel of judges will collectively select entries towards the exhibition and award the three cash prizes.
- The awards will be announced on the Opening Night of the exhibition.
The Judging Panel is:
- Chair – Revd Georgia Ashwell, Curate of St John’s Waterloo.
- Bishop Peter Brignall, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wrexham; Lead Bishop for the Bible, Catholic Bishops’ Conference, England & Wales.
- Tiana Dunlop, Senior Designer, Pan Macmillan Publishers.
- Will George, Head of E-Commerce, Tate Galleries and Non-executive director, Hepworth Wakefield.
- Euchar Gravina, Artistic Director, St John’s Waterloo.
- Fleur Dorrell, Biblical Apostolate Manager, Catholic Bishops’ Conference, England & Wales.
All work will be judged on three elements:
- Integrity to the exhibition theme
- Innovation of design and technique
- Creative interpretation of the book or books’ genres and contents
We welcome up to four submissions per artist.
Entries must meet the Submission Criteria as set out below. Work that does not meet the requirements will not be adjudicated.
Inclusion in the exhibition is at the sole discretion of the organisers and their decision is final. All accepted submissions will be listed on our dedicated website pages.
Due to the expected volume of submissions, unfortunately we are unable to offer specific feedback on individual entries, so no correspondence will be entered into.
Registration
We will be seeking to select a cover design for each book for the Bible and expect that some books will be selected more than others. To help you and us ensure that all books are chosen, we encourage you to look at the spreadsheet first through the link below before making your choices, and to review your choices as more people register. We encouraged interested artists and designers to register by 31st July 2026. If you would like to edit your registration, please let us know by reaching out to Euchar Gravina at St John’s Waterloo, at artisticdirector@stjohnswaterloo.org.
If you haven’t registered yet, you are still welcome to do so as this helps everyone keep an eye on which books are attracting the most interest. Note that registering isn’t the same as submitting, and you’ll need to submit your actual work via the separate link below.
Online submission of artwork
Deadline for online submissions is 21st September 2026.
Online artwork submission criteria
- Entries can only be submitted using the online form above.
- Up to four works for four different book titles per person can be submitted.
- Entries must be the original, unaided work of the entrant, except where work is a collaboration. In such cases the piece must be jointly entered in the name of all participants.
- If you use another person’s original work to create your work, you must have his or her written permission to do so.
- Only submit work online that will be available to deliver and collect from the venue on dates listed under Exhibition Dates section.
- Any submissions considered a conservation, or health and safety risk will not be accepted.
- The entrant shall indemnify and hold “Divine Designs: Between the Covers” and its Organisers harmless against claims, demands, loss, damages, liability and costs (including reasonable legal expenses) that the Organisers suffer or incur as a result of, or in connection with, any breach by the entrant of the criteria stated.
By entering the exhibition you are confirming that you have read and understood these criteria.
Online image submission criteria
- Artists are allowed to submit designs for up to four different book covers in high-resolution jpeg format, up to 6-8MB, and in at least 300dpi at A3 size and in Portrait format. Dpi stands for ‘Dots per inch’. It measures the density of ink dots a printer places on paper to determine image, print, and scan resolution. A higher Dpi (typically 300+) produces clearer, sharper, and more detailed prints.
- For multiple submissions, they should each be for a different book of the Bible (e.g. one design per book title). They must include books from both the Old and New Testaments.
- Poorly presented images, especially those that are out of focus, badly lit or pixelated will affect your chances of success. It is advisable to set your work against a plain background, and don’t use filters or edit your image using software such as Photoshop, beyond the basic re-sizing of your image for online submission.
- Deadline for online submissions is 21st September 2026.
Contact for entrants and all queries: Fleur Dorrell (fleur.dorrell@cbcew.org.uk)
By entering the exhibition you are confirming that you have read and understood these criteria.
Launch and Press Night
9th February 2027, 6pm onwards.
Exhibition dates
10th February 2027 to 9th April 2027.
Opening times
St John’s is usually open Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. There are days when the building is open later into the evening and over weekends and other days when the building is kept closed because of private events. We will provide details of the opening times and dates from December 2026.
Delivery, installation and collection of artworks
All selected artworks must be delivered or sent by post to the venue between 9am and 5pm on these dates:
- 28th January 2027
- 29th January 2027
- 1st February 2027
Delivery, either in person or by post is the responsibility of the artists.
The exhibition will be installed between 3rd – 8th February 2027.
All selected artworks must be collected from the venue between 9am and 5pm between 12th and 16th April 2027. All uncollected artworks will be disposed of due to lack of long-term storage facilities at the venue.
- All artists are responsible for delivering and collecting their artworks on the set delivery and collection days, at agreed times, no alternative dates or times will be acceptable.
- We do not accept work shipped from outside of the UK.
- Substitutions will not be permitted.
- Work must be available for display during the entire period of the exhibition.
- Work may not be removed from the exhibition before 12th April 2027.
- Your work should, if possible, be submitted in protective packaging with a clear label on both the packaging and the artwork with the following: Artist Name, Artwork Name, Divine Designs exhibition.
- We reserve the right to safeguard the artwork from damage and to protect the public through use of barriers or secure fixings.
- You accept liability for your own work and you will be responsible for taking out insurance, if you wish to do so. This liability begins from the point at which you deliver the work, to collecting the work. All reasonable care will be taken by the organisers whilst transporting, setting up and striking the exhibition. However, the organisers do not take liability for any loss/damage to work whilst it is in their care.
Artwork sales
If your artwork is sold as a result of this Exhibition, you must include the following acknowledgement in any publicity regarding the sale of their artwork(s):
- This artwork/artworks was/were shown at the “Divine Designs: Between the Covers” exhibition at St John’s Waterloo, 9th February – 9th April 2027.
Publicity
- When filling in the online submission form please note that the name you provide will be printed in the exhibition catalogue if your artwork is selected.
- If you have an ‘artist name’ that is different from the name on your form, please let the organisers know in the original submission form.
- By submitting the online form, you agree to us editing your description of your work as needed and to provide us with an additional image of your work if required.
- Any photographic credits must be given to the organisers before 1st November 2026; after this date they cannot be added into the exhibition catalogue.
Photographic release
By entering your artwork for the exhibition, entrants allow “Divine Designs: Between the Covers” to reproduce their work by print and electronic media and on our websites for the purpose of advertising and promoting the exhibition. By entering your artwork for the exhibition, you are agreeing to abide by all the criteria stated in this document.
Download the criteria
You can download the criteria and guidelines listed above by following the link button below.