Artificial intelligence has rapidly become part of our everyday lives. It writes, generates, recommends, predicts, and increasingly shapes the way we communicate, consume information, and make decisions. But as AI becomes more deeply embedded in society, one question grows ever more relevant: what remains uniquely human?
This question lies at the heart of Posterheroes 2026, the 15th edition of the international social communication poster competition organised by PLUG Association in collaboration with Favini, ITCILO, and Fondazione Time2. This year’s theme, Still Human, invites designers, illustrators, artists, and visual communicators from around the world to explore humanity and human diversity in an age increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence. Rather than taking a position for or against technology, the brief encourages participants to investigate the complex relationship between people, algorithms, creativity, responsibility, and identity.
Exploring the Space Between Human and Machine
Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept. It influences what we see online, how we work, what we buy, and even how we perceive the world around us. Yet behind every algorithm are human choices, values, and intentions.
The Still Human brief asks participants to reflect on questions that have no simple answers. If machines can create, optimise, and recommend, where does human agency begin? Can authorship remain entirely our own when creative tools increasingly collaborate with us? And how can we ensure that technology reflects the diversity and complexity of human experience rather than reinforcing bias and inequality?
Rather than judging artificial intelligence, Posterheroes encourages visual storytellers to make its effects visible. The competition welcomes interpretations that explore the boundaries between automation and creativity, delegation and responsibility, efficiency and imagination, opening a dialogue about what it means to remain still human in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
An International Competition for Social Communication
Since its launch, Posterheroes has established itself as one of the leading international competitions dedicated to socially engaged poster design. Every edition challenges the global creative community to respond to pressing contemporary issues through the power of visual communication, demonstrating how a single poster can spark conversation and inspire change.
Participation in Posterheroes 2026 is free of charge and open worldwide to anyone of legal age, whether entering individually or as a team. Participants may submit up to three original posters, each responding to the Still Human brief.
How to Participate?
Designers wishing to enter should create an original, unpublished poster in 70 × 100 cm vertical format. Initial submissions should be uploaded as JPG, JPEG, or PNG files (CMYK, maximum 10 MB), with any text appearing in English. Importantly, entries must not be entirely generated by artificial intelligence, reinforcing the competition’s focus on human creativity and authorship.
All entries must be submitted through the official Posterheroes website by 31 July 2026. After the submission deadline, an international jury will evaluate the works anonymously, selecting 40 winning posters based on their originality, relevance to the theme, visual quality, and communicative impact. Among the selected works, two special awards will be presented:
- Favini Prize – €2,500
- Fondazione Time2 Prize – €1,500
In addition, twelve of the winning posters will be chosen by Favini for the Posterheroes 2027 Calendar, printed on a curated selection of Favini papers. All forty winners will receive a copy of the calendar featuring their work. You can read the full terms and conditions of the competition here.