V&A announces shortlist for its Illustration Awards 2018

A celebration of the best book, editorial and student illustrations published over the last year, the V&A illustration awards are a major date in the calendar of any illustrator. Today sees the announcement of the award’s shortlist, which is both wide in scope and ambitious in imagination. From a dystopian interpretation of the Vatican to a moving depiction of cyber-bullying, this year’s shortlist is just as sharp and impressive as ever.

The winning published entries will be judged by Frank Skinner, Tristram Hunt and Sally Hales, while on the student illustrator of the year award’s judging panel is A. Richard Allen (last year’s award recipient) and Martin Colyer.

The award is comprised of four categories – best illustrated book, book cover design, editorial illustration and student illustrator. Each will receive £3000 and a trophy, and the overall winner will receive an additional £5000 and be honoured with the Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year Prize, named in memory of the late former director of design at the museum.

Read on below for the full 2018 shortlist, and take a look at the impressive work of those that snagged a place on it this year.

2018 Student Illustrator of the Year
Alva Skog, Central Saint Martins, BA Graphic Design (Illustration): The Explorer, The Thinker and The Leader
Emily Hill, Royal Drawing School Postgraduate programme: The Diamond Primary School Days
Fay Troote, Arts University Bournemouth, BA Illustration: The Diving Pool
Joseph Namara Hollis, Anglia Ruskin University, MA Children’s Book Illustration: The Big City
Sinae Park, Norwich University of the Arts, BA Illustration: Orlando

Book Illustration
Benji Davies for The Grotlyn (London: Harper Collins Children’s Books, 2017)
Jason Brooks for New York Sketchbook (London: Laurence King, 2017)
John Vernon Lord for Ulysses (London: The Folio Society, 2017)

Book Cover Design
Suzanne Dean for Bluets (Penguin Random House, 2017)
Will Web for Anquetil, Alone (Pursuit Books, 2017)

Editorial Illustration
Calum Heath for Cyber Bullying, published in Vice
Cat O’Neil for RSA Benefits, published in Libération
Martin O’Neill for Virtual Vatican, published in Garage Magazine