The V&A Illustration Awards are back and completely free (as always) to enter!
*The V&A Illustration Awards 2024 are now closed for entries. Judging is taking place and announcements on the Awards’ judges and this year’s shortlisted items will appear on our website soon.*
We have listened to feedback from our recent survey which asked what you most valued in the existing awards, and how you felt they could evolve further.
One outcome has been the addition of a fifth category, a completely new award for Advertising and Commercial illustration. Entries for this category include original illustration (not adapted from other purposes) for packaging and products and illustration for advertisements, including animated.
Other categories have been revised and updated, so we now see illustrative content for adults and children in separate categories in the new Illustration for Children (for an audience under 16) category and Adult Fiction and Adult Non-Fiction. Our student category has expanded to become Emerging Illustrator and we now welcome entries from all unpublished illustrators, over the age of 18 on 31 August 2023, who are currently resident in the UK, or have studied at a UK university in 2022 or 2023.
Cash prizes await those lucky enough to win – £3000 for each category winner, £750 for category runner-ups & the overall winner, the Moira Gemmell Illustrator of the year, is awarded an additional £5000 and their artwork will enter the V&A’s collection. A display of a selection of the artwork will also be held at the V&A Museum.
There is no designated brief for your submissions in any category. We simply ask that you describe the projects you enter, and how you came up with the ideas, as part of our easy to complete submission form. Up to eight image files are permitted for each entry, or the opportunity to link to/upload a one minute video submission & five image files. You can make as many entries as you like but an individual project can only be entered once, so choose the most appropriate category for each project you enter.
Please do check our T&Cs and About the Awards on our webpages to get you up to speed on your eligibility for the Awards. The process should be relatively painless, our online competition platform will guide you through, but if anything comes up, take a look at our FAQs. If you can’t find the answer to your question, contact us at: villa@vam.ac.uk
When will I hear if I have been successful?
The judges for the 2024 Awards will be announced soon and will review entries after the competition deadline, 23:59 GMT, Friday 5 January 2024. Sign-up to our emails to hear when the shortlist is announced by Summer 2024, or keep an eye out on the website. The winners will be contacted by September 2024.
The Awards are generously supported by the Linder Foundation and the Moira Gemmell Memorial fund.
We wish you the best of luck!
Look out for our How to Enter blog coming soon…
