According to Kanoon General Directorate for Public Relations and International Affairs, Kanoon introduced this book to participate in this contest as a selected work from Iran that could obtain the main award of the festival.
Kanoon, as Iran’s delegate, sends the selected works to the festival secretariat for every round. This is done through publishing a call and holding national judging meetings,
With the cooperation of Children’s Book Council and Iran Society of Illustrators, ten Iranian illustrators were introduced to participate in this round of the festival. Noushin Sadeghian managed to win the BIB 2025 award.
Sadeghian had previously won the first of Belgrade Biennial  International Illustration Competition, the Republic of Serbia for “The Apple Tree and The Demon” from “Malek Ebrahim Collection” in 2021. Also, the “Golden Island Award” from Nami Concours, South Korea.
A year later, she illustrated the cover of Belgrade Biennial International Illustration as the winner of the previous round. Some pages of the catalog were dedicated to introducing this Iranian illustrator.
Being introduced as one of the winners of the 60th round of Bologna Book Exhibition in Italy and receiving the Grand Prix from the jury of China Pineapple Illustration Festival in 2022 are other achievements for this Iranian illustrator.
“That Far Away”, a Kanoon book, illustrated by Noushin Sadeghian, was introduced to Bratislava competition as an Iranian selected work in 2021.
Based on this news, Biennial International Bratislava held with the support of UNESCO and under the supervision of International Board on Book for Young People (IBBY) is the most important international festival in the domain of illustrating children’s books.
This event is held every two years in Bratislava, the Slovak Republic. International judges introduce the winners of “Golden Apple”, “Golden Plaque” and “Grand Prix’.
In the 30th round of this festival which has started since Oct 3rd 2025 at Slovakia National Gallery and will continue till Jan 11, 2026.
Artists from Switzerland, the People's Republic of China, Mexico, South Africa, and South Korea received the “Golden Apple Award” and artists from Chile, Switzerland, Brazil, the People's Republic of China and the Slovak Republic won the “Golden Plaque Award”.
Years ago, Alireza Goldouzian in 2005 and Hassan Mousavi in 2019 managed to win the Grand Prix of this event.
It is reminded that this year, in the 30th round of Biennial Illustration of Bratislava, Sahar Tarhandeh, literature expert and member of Children’s Book Council is attending this event as a member of the jury.

Translated by: Mitra Khatoonabadi