Along with the online publication of The Ickabog, chapter by chapter, J.K. Rowling held an illustration competition for children to illustrate the book that was to be published. The competition announcement on Rowling's website read as follows:
Calling all budding artists! J.K. Rowling is inviting you to help illustrate The Ickabog for her. Every day when chapters of the story are uploaded, she will be making suggestions for what you might like to draw or paint to illustrate the story as it goes along. You should let your imagination run wild!
The best bit is, if you are between seven and twelve years old, your parent or guardian on your behalf can enter your drawings or paintings into the official competition being run by J.K. Rowling’s publishers, for a once in a lifetime chance to be featured in The Ickabog book, which is published in November. The competition is now open in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, the US and Canada, and will be extended to other countries very soon.
Daily prompts for drawings were published on J.K. Rowling's Twitter account as well as a Twitter account created specifically for The Ickabog. For example, following the online publication of Chapters 52 and 53, children were prompted to draw "The Ickabog's cave paintings" and "A basket full of mushrooms." Thousands of children and their parents participated in the contest through Twitter and direct submission to publishers.
