The V&A Illustration Awards 2020 are now open. Enter online here.
The Awards celebrate excellence in student illustration and three categories of contemporary practice: book cover design, book illustration and illustrated journalism.
Each winner receives £3,000 and the overall winner of the competition is awarded the Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year Prize of an additional £5,000. The student runner-up receives £2,000. Award winners and the student shortlist feature in a display at the museum each year.
We asked our previous winners why you should enter the V&A Illustration Awards, here’s what they said:
Winners (from left to right): Harry Woodgate, Sophie Burrows, A. Richard Allen, Yehrin Tong, Yanyin Xu
“Winning the V&A Illustration Awards has garnered lots of interest in my work, which is so lovely, and its opened up new possibilities for directions to take my work next.” – Sophie Burrows, Student Illustrator of the Year 2019
“The exposure has had such positive effects on my career with interest in my work coming from all different sectors of design.” – Yehrin Tong, Book Cover Design Award Winner 2015 & 2019
“To simply put it one has nothing to lose by entering and potentially a lot to gain!” – Daphne Christoforou, Student Illustrator of the Year 2015
Here is the necessary info you need to enter the Awards:
Is your work eligible?
- The published categories are open to illustrators resident in the UK, or that have published within the UK book and journalism market. Entries must be an original edition published in the year 2019.
- The student category is open to anyone aged 18 or over who has attended, or is attending, a course of study in the UK during 2018/19. Any students can enter the competition, you do not need to be studying Illustration specifically.
Read the full Terms & Conditions
When will you hear if you have been successful?
Judging begins soon after closing and will take place over the New Year. If you have signed-up to receive emails about the competition, you can expect to hear from us when the shortlist is announced in March 2020.
How many entries will be shortlisted per category?
Our judges shortlist up to 3 entries from each of the published categories. The student judges will select 5 student entries to be shortlisted for the Student Illustrator of the Year Award.
If you have a question that we’ve not thought of, contact villa@vam.ac.uk
Remember, the awards will close to entries at 14:00 (GMT) on Monday 16 December. Good Luck!
