The V&A Illustration Awards is a prestigious annual competition in the UK 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 distinctions! The prizes are free and open to people around the world, including students and professionals. If you’re an illustrator looking for some recognition, or just starting out in your career and want your work seen by industry experts, be sure to enter the V&A Illustration Awards!
Gérard DuBois has been hired to create the cover art for a new Folio Society edition of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. His acrylic works, called “masterpieces” by the judges, evoke the majesty and cruelty of McCarthy’s words.DuBois’ paintings, which depict a father and son on a dangerous journey through post-apocalyptic America, head out to sea in search of deliverance. In the images, shining examples of love between father and son offer glimmers of hope amid the desolation. “Gorgeous, colorful, sad but beautiful”, Posy Simmonds characterized the works.Kerry Hyndman’s work for Stella Gibbons’ The Rich House has been particularly acclaimed. Hyndman’s style is primarily digital, with hand-drawn textures and layers added to create depth and complexity. Judges singled out Hyndman’s eye-catching design and exquisite craftsmanship.Lela Harris, Alice Walker’s The Color Violet.For a 2021 series of articles written by young people about the world of TikTok, discussing their experiences with the social media platform, in particular its hypnotic and damaging effects on self-image and mental health, Jamie Albon was commissioned for the 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 Black Hair in a White World’ by Tamara Gilkes Borr, in The Economist’s 1843 digital magazine.The judges praised Kate Rolfe’s work, Navigating Dyslexia, for its humor, simplicity and ingenuity. In his work, typefaces form impenetrable forests that tumble from books and pile up in an overwhelming wave of anxiety; based on his personal experience, Rolfe combines the processes of cyanotype and typography to communicate the nuances experienced by a dyslexic person.“Five Puffins in Antarctica” by Jessica Ciccolone is a wimmelbook, or hidden picture book, created for Anglia Ruskin University.“My Summer – A Visual Diary” by Klara Bianka Gryglicka.
