After pausing its review of emoji submissions, the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee is back with tips for successful submissions, chair Jennifer Daniel announced. Anything you submit now could come to phones as soon as 2023 — but if you want to fine-tune your emoji, she’s got some suggestions.

A good emoji has multiple uses, can be used with other emoji to create an emoji phrase, represents something new, and is distinct from existing emoji, Daniel writes.

We won’t get new emoji this year; the Unicode Consortium — that’s the panel in charge of emoji releases — delayed the version release. The delay was because Unicode relies on volunteers, and last year, the pandemic overwhelmed them. The next planned release is in 2022.

Our own Jay Peters has contributed to your emoji vocabulary with a yawn and a waffle. He submitted his proposal in 2017, and the new emoji hit phones everywhere in 2019.