The National Young Creators Exhibition is once again calling on young artists residing in Portugal, aged 16 to 30, for its most extensive program to encourage creativity. Submit your application at one of the following locations: 15 artistic areas which we have identified below, and add your name to the hundreds of creators who, over the last almost three decades, have been propelled by this initiative.
Those selected will have the opportunity to exhibit or present their work publicly at official event of the National Young Creators Showcase, where the winners of each area will also be announced.
They will be distributed €16.500 in prizes€1100 for each artistic area. Winners will also be entitled to a discount of 50% no Gerador Critical Thinking Program in 2027.
The MNJC is an initiative of the IPDJ, organized by Gerador. Discover what the last editions were like: 2022, 2023, 2024 e 2025.
From textile art to sculpture, and including literature, music, and film, there are a total of 15 artistic fields in the competition.
Digital art
Textile Art
Cinema
Disciplinary Crossing
Dance
Declamation
Sculpture
Photograph
Illustration
Jewellery
Literature
Moda
Music
Painting
Drama
IMPORTANT INFORMATIONS
Here you will find the information you can't forget: the relevant dates, the application form, the regulations, and the information sessions.
DATES
You have until day August 30, at 20pm to submit your application.
The selected works will be known at October 22th.
The full MNJC program will be announced. in the last quarter of 2026.
MNJC 2026 will take place in the last quarter of the year, on a date and at a location to be announced soon.
RULES AND REGULATIONS
It is very important that you read the regulations carefully to ensure you have everything you need to apply. Depending on the artistic area, we will need different information. Only applications that comply with the regulations will be accepted.
Fill out the form below to formalize your application.Here we ask for some simple information for your identification and more detailed information about the job you are applying for.
These are digital meetings open to everyone where you can speak directly with the team. Gerador To answer questions. They take place via Zoom. See the date of the next one here:
Each artistic area has a dedicated thematic jury, composed of the 2 recognized authors you can discover below, and a representative from IPDJ. Click on the + for all the details.
Digital art
Falcão Lucas
FalcaoLucas is the digital art and design project of Tânia Falcão and Luís Avelar Lucas, two designers, illustrators, motiongraphers, and musicians who have been together as a couple since 2001 when they met in a bar in Ericeira drinking tequila shots. They have presented their works and animations at national and international events and collaborated with renowned artists and brands such as Maroon 5, Paramount, Fox, Kit Kat, Republic Records, Casablanca Records, EDP, Montepio, Jerónimo Martins, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, SIC, and Diário de Notícias.
Digital art
Leonel Moura
Leonel Moura is an innovative artist and pioneer in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence applied to art. He has developed autonomous artbots, including the first robotic arm capable of generating unique paintings based on an “ant algorithm”. His creations have been exhibited internationally (American Museum of Natural History, in New York; Grand Palais, in Paris; and UCCA, in Beijing). He recently opened the Diriyah Art Futures museum in Saudi Arabia. He has been appointed European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation.
Textile Art
Célia Esteves
Founder of GUR and originally from Viana do Castelo. The essence of GUR is to make typical Portuguese rugs more fun. The same techniques are used with carefully selected materials. The rugs are very faithful to what they have always been, but they involve a design factor that results from working with artists and illustrators, translating their ideas into rugs.
Textile Art
Susana Cereja
Susana Cereja (Mafra, 1992) is a Portuguese visual artist whose practice crosses tapestry, drawing, painting, printmaking, and installation. Starting from the Arraiolos stitch, she reinvents traditional techniques in a contemporary language, exploring femininity, freedom, memory, and territory. She exhibits in Portugal and abroad and develops public and community art projects.
Textile Art
Vanessa Barragão
Vanessa Barragão (b. 1992; Faro, Portugal) is a Portuguese textile artist committed to sustainability and environmental preservation. By recycling wool and synthetic fibers, she gives new life to discarded materials, transforming them into textile works that evoke underwater landscapes and organic forms. She has collaborated with renowned organizations. In 2024, one of her works was chosen as Portugal's gift to the UN and, since then, it has been part of the permanent collection at the UN building in New York.
Cinema
Elsa Mendes
National Coordinator of the National Cinema Plan, at the Directorate-General for Education since 2014. Researcher integrated in the Research, Media and Cultural Mediations Group (Open University). She is a juror in the Competitions of the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual, a member of the Jury in academic research projects and a member of the Jury in several Film Festivals. Member of the Portuguese Academy of Cinema. Co-coordinates the Cinema and Education group at the Association of Moving Image Researchers (AIM). She is a member of the Pedagogical Committee of the Association of History Teachers (APH).
Cinema
Tiago R. Santos
Screenwriter, novelist, professor, film critic and director. He has been nominated six times by the Portuguese Academy of Cinema, winning once for Best Original Screenplay. He has written commercial successes in recent Portuguese cinema (“Call Girl” and “O Leão da Estrela”). He co-created three series broadcast in prime time on RTP, one of which (“Até Que a Vida Nos Separe”) is distributed worldwide on Netflix. He has won the Authors Award twice (“Os Gatos Não Têm Vertigens” and “Até Que a Vida Nos Separe”). “Revolta” was nominated twice for the Portuguese Academy of Cinema awards.
Disciplinary Crossing
Gaya de Medeiros
She worked for 9 years as a dancer and creator at the Palácio das Artes Dance Company (BR). She starred in the short film “Caroço de Abacate”, awarded at IndieLisboa 2022, AFI Film Festival (Hollywood) and the Film Court Festival (FR). She created “Atlas da Boca” (Alkantara Festival 2021), elected one of the best of 2021 by Jornal Expresso, and which was on the list of 20 European shows selected for Spring Forward-Aerowaves 2023. She founded BRABA.aplataforma, which aims to support initiatives led by/directed towards the Trans/Non-binary community.
Disciplinary Crossing
Joao Garcia Miguel
João Garcia Miguel is the Director of the João Garcia Miguel Company, Artistic Director of the Teatro Cine de Torres Vedras since 2002 and Artistic Director of the Centro de Artes e Criatividade in Torres Vedras since May 2022. He has been teaching at universities in Portugal and abroad since 2003. He writes performance works and essays and exhibits regularly. Founder of Canibalismo Cósmico, Galeria Zé dos Bois and OLHO - Grupo de Teatro. He received his PhD from FBAUL in 2017. In 2008 he received the FAD Sebastià Gasch Award in Spain and in 2014 the SPA Award for Best Directing with Yerma by Garcia Lorca.
Dance
Aldara Bizarro
She studied dance in Luanda, Lisbon, New York and Berlin. She began choreographing in 1990 with Me myself and Influences, an award-winning piece at the 91th CDL Choreographic Workshop. She was part of the Nova Dança Portuguesa group represented at Europália 2007. She was a pioneer in Portugal in creating dance for young people and involving them in the works, through the Respira Project (2011). Her piece A Nova Bailarina was distinguished by the Público newspaper as one of the best pieces of XNUMX. She was artistic director of Jangada. She currently develops projects for young people and the community.
Dance
Rosana Ribeiro
Performer and choreographer, she lives between Austria and Portugal and is the artistic director and co-founder of the Selva company in Salzburg. She began her artistic studies at Chapitô and holds a degree in Contemporary Dance from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (UK). She has performed for Jean Abreu, Hofesh Shechter, Cie.7273, Companhia Paulo Ribeiro, among others. She has worked on operatic productions at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and the Barbican Centre. She was Cultural Programmer of the Jardins Abertos festival (2017-2022). She is one of the artists associated with tanz_house Salzburg.
Declamation
Alice Neto de Sousa
Poet and spoken word artist born in Portugal with roots in Angola. Author of the poem "March", presented at the solemn opening of the 50th anniversary celebrations of April 25th, and of the poem "Poet", which has taken social media by storm and has been spreading around the world. She was a regular on the "Bem-Vindos" program on RTP África (2021 to 2023), a resident poet at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2024), was part of the poets' fellowship of the cultural association "A Palavra", and has poems in the newspaper "Mensagem de Lisboa". Restless by nature, in words and choices, she enjoys freedom of thought and feeling.
Declamation
João de Brito
Born in Faro. He holds a degree in Theatre – Actor Training (ESTC) and a master's degree in Cultural Practices for Municipalities (FCSH/UNL). Artistic director of LAMA Teatro and the MOCHILA Festival, he also works in television, film and advertising. He collaborated with the Educational Service of Culturgest (2010-2016). At LAMA Teatro he directed shows such as The Worst Teacher in the World, Miss Julia, Battle, The Fundamental Laws of Human Stupidity, A Doll's House, The Value of Small Things, among others. He co-created projects such as Fomo, Nacional 2, Carripana, Frigorífico, Romeo and Romeo, among others. As an actor, he has also collaborated with companies such as Artistas Unidos, Formiga Atómica, Lavrar o Mar, Teatro o Bando, Teatro Experimental de Cascais, Palco 13, Rumo do Fumo, Colectivo 84, Projecto Ruínas, Teatro dos Alóes and Teatro Experimental do Porto.
Declamation
José Anjos
José Anjos (Lisbon, 1978) is a lawyer, poet and musician. He participates in several projects as a drummer (não simão, A Favola da Medusa), guitarist (Poetry Ensemble and mao-mao) and spokenword artist (Lisbon Poetry Orchestra, No Precipício era o Verbo, Navio dos Loucos, O Gajo, Janela). He published the books Manual de Tarefas para Desaparer (2015, Abysmo), Somos contemporários do máximo (We are contemporaries of the impossible) (2017, Abysmo), Uma fotografia pontada à cabeça (A photograph pointed at the head) (2019, Abysmo), and O esculptor de Pássaros livre (The sculptor of free birds) (2021), by Nova Mymosa. He lives with his cat Zorba.
Sculpture
Joana Valsassina
Joana Valsassina is the Artistic Director of Appleton Cultural Association, a contemporary art center in Lisbon. Between 2020 and 2025, she was a curator at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, where she coordinated the National Touring Exhibition Program of the Serralves Collection. She holds degrees in museology from New York University and in architecture from the University of Lisbon. She previously worked as an independent curator and was part of curatorial teams at institutions such as MAAT in Lisbon, MoMA, and The Drawing Center in New York.
Sculpture
Pedro Fazenda
He studies drawing, painting, engraving, photography and sculpture at AR.CO - Centre for Art and Visual Communication, in Lisbon. He has exhibited his work individually since 1986 and collectively since 1979. He has participated in several International Sculpture Symposiums, designed and executed several sculptures in public spaces, participated in architecture, urban planning and restoration projects, created set designs and organised training courses in stone sculpture. He is the chairman of the board and artistic director of the association Pó de Vir a Ser - Department of Stone Sculpture - Évora Cultural Centre.
Photograph
Estelle Valente
Photographer. In 2012, she began photographing the fado singer Gisela João, whom she still accompanies today. In 2015, she began a collaboration with the Teatro Municipal São Luiz, where she photographs rehearsals, shows and communication campaigns. In 2018, she held her first exhibition in Setúbal, «Carla no Papel»; she returned to Paris for another exhibition at Espace Cardin; and, to mark the 20th anniversary of José Saramago's Nobel Prize, she illustrated the book «Por Saramago» with her photographs. In 2019, she began a collaboration with GQ magazine, where she takes portraits of cultural figures.
Photograph
Rita Carmo
Photographer dedicated to the music scene for 33 years. She has three photo albums: "Altas-Luzes” (2003), “Bandas Sonoras - 100 Retratos na Música Portuguesa” (2013) and “Jorge Palma por Rita Carmo” (2023). Distinguished with the “Mérito Profissional Afonso Lopes Vieira” Trophy from the Jornal Região de Leiria and with the “Women in Music Award” by Aporfest. In 2023 she was invited to exhibit at the Altice Arena. In 2024, she was honored by the Municipality of Leiria and exhibited in the collective exhibition "Thank You, Good Night: Concert Photography" (USA).
Illustration
Amanda Baeza
Amanda Baeza (born 1990, Valparaíso, Chile) is a designer, comic book author, and illustrator. She began her career with the zine Mr. Spoqui (2009–2013), created with her siblings. This universe gave rise to Bruma (Chili Com Carne, 2017), a book that brings together short visual poems. She has collaborated with publishers such as Kuš!, Fulgencio Pimentel, and Lagon Revue. In 2025, her work for El Limoreno was recognized at the Bologna Children's Book Fair illustrators' exhibition. She lives and works in Portugal.
Illustration
Clara Não
Clara Não is an illustrator, author, and feminist in the making. She holds a degree in Communication Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and a master's degree in Drawing and Printing Techniques. She stands out for the irreverence and irony with which she addresses equality and social taboos. In 2019, she launched the national bestseller *Miga, esquece lá isso!* (Girl, forget about that!). She was a columnist for... Gerador and currently writes for Expresso. In her spare time, she sings Britney.
Jewellery
Joana Santos
Portuguese designer of contemporary jewellery (born 1986, Porto). In 2019, she was awarded Designer of the Year by the Porto Jóia fair. She has participated in international exhibitions and fairs such as Growth and Evolution (China), Autor (Romania), Showcase Moda (Paris), MAAT museum (Lisbon), Sieraad (Amsterdam). Recent exhibitions include the piece “Livro de artista” (Artist’s Book) at the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis, participation in the 2nd Lisbon Contemporary Jewellery Biennial (Joias para a Democracia, at the Museu Tesouro Real), and the international “Wereable Art – What is the Third Skin?” (Dubai).
Jewellery
Valentim Quaresma
Valentim Quaresma expresses his creativity through fashion and art. He worked with Ana Salazar, a pioneer of Portuguese fashion, between 1990 and 2010. In 2008, he won the “Accessories Collection of the Year” award at the ITS#7 International competition in Trieste, Italy, and launched his own brand. He has presented his work internationally. With his FW 11/12 collection, “Alchemy”, he was included in the official calendar of ModaLisboa, where he began to present his work seasonally.
Literature
Andre Weaver
André Tecedeiro is a Portuguese writer born in 1979. He has a bachelor's and master's degree in both art and psychology. He has published seven books of poetry, the best known being “A Axila de Egon Schiele” (Porto Editora, 2020).
Literature
Wladimir Vaz Mourão
Wladimir Vaz Mourão is an editor, writer, and musician. He is the founder and editor of Editora Urutau. As an author, he published "Para quem está se afogando, crocodilo é tronco" (2023), a book that was a semifinalist for the Jabuti Prize. In parallel to his literary activity, he develops work in the field of music as a member of the Bujiwa project, with which he released the album "Ixé" (2022).
Moda
Dino Alves
A stylist par excellence, Dino Alves regularly presents his collections at ModaLisboa. He has designed costumes for a variety of dance and theatre shows, advertising, fashion events and product launches. He also collaborates on image design projects, particularly for parties at the Lux – Frágil nightclub, and for publications such as Dance Club. He was responsible for styling the participants of the Festival da Canção and created the image of Herman José for the programmes “Chamar a Música” and "Roda da Sorte". He is a costume designer at the Escola Superior de Dança.
Moda
Eduarda Abbondanza
President of the ModaLisboa Association and founder of Lisbon Fashion Week. She combines the management of ModaLisboa with other professional activities that include Fashion Education, Creative Management of brands and design consultancy. She is frequently invited as a judge and speaker on specialized panels nationally and internationally. She is a member of several international boards, elevating and promoting the position of Portuguese Fashion in the international context for over 25 years.
Music
Hélio Morais
A musician from Lisbon, co-founder of the bands Linda Martini and PAUS, as well as a solo artist. Between these two bands and If Lucy Fell (a band currently on hiatus), he has released 13 albums, 4 EPs, 2 live albums, and a series of compilations. He was also a co-founder of HAUS (PAUS's multidisciplinary space, where they handle artist management, band recording, music activations with brands, event production, etc.), a space he left in 2022 to dedicate himself to his own business, "A Lavoura," where he manages the career of Fado Bicha, among others.
Music
Selma Uamusse
Selma Uamusse released her debut album Mati in 2018. Widely praised by national critics, it was presented on several prestigious national and international stages, on a tour with more than 60 concerts. In 2020, she released her second album Liwoningo. Her music is a manifesto for harmony in what surrounds us, a positive outlook on the world. A form of struggle and hope for a freer society, with more love.
Painting
Ana Fonseca
Visual artist. She has exhibited her works since 2006, with highlights including “Herbário – Locus Amoerus” (2023) at Palácio Galveias; “O Rosto da Justiça” (The Face of Justice), Museu Bordalo Pinheiro (2021), “De casa para o mundo” (From Home to the World), Bienal de Cerveira, 2020, and currently on tour. CONTINGERE, Galeria Cisterna, 2020. In April 2022, she was invited to be a jury member for the second edition of the artistic residencies at Museu Bordalo Pinheiro. She participated in the project “Umbigo 18 Anos, 18 Projetos (38 Artists)” (2021). Her artistic practice is transdisciplinary, with drawing playing a central role.
Painting
Francisco Vidal
Graduated in Fine Arts from ESAD in Caldas da Rainha; Master's degree from Columbia University, New York. He was selected for the Angolan pavilion at the 56th edition of the Venice Biennale. He has held several solo and collective exhibitions, such as Europa, Oxalá, Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), MUCEM (Marseille), AfricaMuseum (Tervuren), (2021-2023). Private and public collections have acquired his works: in Portugal, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the EDP Foundation, the PLMJ Foundation, and also the Scheryn Art Collection (South Africa), and the Sindika Dokolo collection (Angola).
Drama
Carla Chambel
She is vice-president of the Portuguese Academy of Cinema and is a member of the board of GDA. She has worked with several directors and companies: Comuna Teatro de Pesquisa, Novo Grupo/Teatro Aberto, Teatro Meridional, among others. Her last show was MATER by Maria Adelaide Amaral, directed by Beto Coville and produced by Teatro Livre. She directed staged poetry readings at TNDMII. She received the Bernardo Santareno Award for Best Theater Actress in 2007. She can be seen on TV and in Cinema, where she has received several awards. She trains actors in several schools.
Drama
Miguel Sermão
Resident actor at the Comuna theatre in Lisbon and founding member of the Griot theatre group. He collaborated with the Serpente theatre group directed by Onileva Oten. He is a trainer in dramatic expression for children and youth, a director, acting coach and dialogue coach. He has worked with directors such as João Mota, Rogério de Carvalho, Álvaro Correia, Alfredo Brissos, among others. In film and television he has worked with several directors including Pedro Costa, Edgar Pêra, Luís Galvão Teles, Fabrizio Costa, Jorge Silva Melo, among others.
AMOSTRAS
"A Amostra" is the name of the traveling exhibition of the National Young Creators Exhibition. From July to September 2026, 4 cities in the country will host a collection of artistic works that have been part of the program in previous editions.
El Faro
IPDJ Faro, Public Security Police Street 1, 8000-151
from July 24th to August 5th
Portalegre
Bonfim Avenue, no number, 7300-067 Portalegre
from the 7st to the 19th of August
Viseu
Dr. Aristides de Sousa Mendes Street, 3500-033, Viseu
from the 21th of August to the 1rd of September
Braga
to be announced
from September 3th to 15th
The 2026 Sample features works by André Filipe Pereira de Abreu, Beatriz Félix, Bruno de Almeida, Estefânia De Sousa Moreno and Iván Grajeda, Filipe Miguel Nobre da Silva, Inês Louro, Joana Cruz, Lia Nogueira, Margarida Couceiro, Margarida Oliveira Martins, Maria Luís Soares Resende, Mariana Santana, Rita Castanheira, Sancha and Vasco Moura.
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