50th Anniversary of the V&A Illustration Awards: 2022 Marks a Milestone for UK’s Prestigious Annual Illustration Competition

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Written by Niyaz Huseynzade

2022-08-19

The V&A Illustration Awards are a prestigious annual competition in the United Kingdom that honors outstanding student illustration and three categories of contemporary practice: book cover design, painting, and illustrated journalism. It will be essential for the 50th anniversary of these prestigious accolades! The Awards are free to enter and open to people worldwide, including students and professionals. If you’re an illustrator looking for some recognition, or if you’re just starting in your career and want to get your work seen by industry experts, then make sure you enter the V&A Illustration Awards!

Gérard DuBois was hired to create the cover art for a new Folio Society edition of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. His acrylic works, dubbed ‘masterpieces’ by the judges, evoke the majesty and cruelty of McCarthy’s words.
The paintings of DuBois, which depict a father and son making a dangerous trek through post-apocalyptic America, inch towards the sea in search of deliverance. In the images, brilliant instances of love between father and son offer glimmers of hope amid the desolation. ‘Magnificent, colorful, sorrowful yet beautiful,’ Posy Simmonds characterized the works.”
Kerry Hyndman for The Rich House by Stella Gibbons’ work was particularly praised. Hyndman’s style is primarily digital, with hand-drawn textures and layers added to create depth and complexity. The judges singled out Hyndman’s eye-catching design and exquisite drawing.
Lela Harris, The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
For a 2021 series of articles written by young people on the world of TikTok, speaking to their experiences with the social media platform, particularly its hypnotic, adverse effects on self-image and mental health, Jamie Albon was commissioned for illustration. The nightmarish scene is depicted using a blue and yellow color scheme incorporating watercolor and gouache techniques. The work received high marks for humor and intensity.
Alexis Tsegba, for ‘The price of having black hair in a white world’ by Tamara Gilkes Borr, in The Economist’s digital 1843 magazine.
The judges praised Kate Rolfe’s work, Navigating Dyslexia, for its humor, simplicity, and ingenuity. In her work, letterpress characters form impenetrable forests which tumble from books and pile high in an overwhelming wave of anxiety; based on personal experience, Rolfe combines cyanotype and letterpress processes to communicate the nuances experienced by a person with dyslexia.
Jessica Ciccolone’s “Five Puffins in Antarctica” is a wimmelbook, or hidden picture book, created for Anglia Ruskin University.
Klara Bianka Gryglicka’s “My Summer – A Visual Diary.”

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