COLORFUL

Since 1996, Young Guns has been an elite portfolio-based competition that takes the profiles of young creative professionals already on the rise and helps elevate them even further. And while the program has made major strides since the days of being jokingly thought of as an award for "extremely talented white designers and illustrators from Williamsburg", there's always room for more diversity.

In 2021, we teamed up with acclaimed first-generation Filipinx designer and Young Guns 8 winner Rich Tu to co-found COLORFUL: A Prelude to Young Guns – a free portfolio competition and grant exclusively for young BIPOC creative professionals who qualify for Young Guns — they just haven't entered and won it yet.

After receiving submissions from across the globe, a jury made up of BIPOC creative superstars — all previous Young Guns winners themselves — went over every single entry, grading them not only on the strength of their work but also on how they intend to use the $3000 creative grant, should they win. Runner up will receive a $2,000 grant, and two third-place winners will each receive $1,000. The jury convened to discuss and debate which entrants stood above others as the overall winners of the grants, as well as to assemble a class of finalists. The winners and the finalists will all be welcomed to enter YG21 completely free of charge, with the confidence that comes with knowing they've already impressed a jury that knows exactly what it takes to win Young Guns.