The 2017 V&A Illustration Awards

Every year, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum hosts their highly regarded Illustration Awards to celebrate the best of British editorial, book and student illustrations. This year, the judges had a difficult task of picking from over 1000 entries to present its Shortlist.

Here are some amazing illustrators up for the grand prize this year:

Book Illustration Award

Benji Davies for Storm Whale in Winter (London: Simon & Schuster, 2016)

The Storm Whale In Winter | V&A

Benji Davies is an award winning illustrator, author and animation director based in East London. Other awards to his name include Best Picture Book at the AOI World Illustration Awards 2015, Children’s Book of the Year at the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards 2015, Oscar’s Book Prize and Dutch Picture Book Of The Year 2017.

Anna+Elena Balbusso for Twelfth Night (London: The Folio Society, 2016)

Twelfth Night by W. Shakespeare, Countess Olivia | V&A

The Balbusso Twins are award winning Italian illustrators with an impressive range of clientele in publishing, editorial, and advertising. Some of their clients include The New York Times, The New Yorker Magazine, and Reader’s Digest. They have also won a slew of other awards including: Gold Medals from the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts and 3x3 The Magazine Of Contemporary Illustration.

JARVIS for Alan’s Big Scary Teeth (London: Walker Books, 2016)

ALAN'S BIG SCARY TEETH | V&A

Book Cover Design Award:

Joe Ciardiello for Aubrey’s Brief Lives (London: The Folio Society, 2016)

John Aubrey's Brief Lives | V&A

Joe Ciardiello is an American illustrator who has worked with a fantastic array of clients including American Express, The New Yorker and Rolling Stone. He has also won four silver medals from the Society of Illustrators as has been profiled many arts journals including Communication Arts Magazine.

Aino-Maija Metsola Virginia Woolf Series (Vintage, 2016)

https://www.vam.ac.uk/b/va-illustration-awards-2017/published/book-cover-design/woolf-series

Aino-Maija Metsola is a Helsinki-based illustrator and designer best known for her work for the design company Marimekko that she has collaborated with since 2006.

Lizzy Stewart for There’s a Tiger in the Garden (Frances Lincoln, 2016)

There's a Tiger in the Garden | V&A

Lizzy Stewart is an illustrator and artist currently based in London. She is also an associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths College.

Editorial Illustration Award:

Gary Neill for ‘Brexit — What Next’, published in Health & Safety

Brexit | V&A

Gary Neill has over 20 years of experience in creating illustrations for editorial publications, advertising and design.

A.Richard Allen for ‘Trump Wave’, The Sunday Telegraph Money

https://www.vam.ac.uk/b/va-illustration-awards-2017/published/editorial-illustration/trump-wave

A.Richard Allen is an award winning illustrator with clients ranging from BBC Worldwide to The Guardian. He has won gold and silver awards from the Society of Illustrators (LA) the Society of Illustrators (NY), and have received honors from 3x3 and Communication Arts.

Nick Lowndes for ‘Samuel Johnson’, published in The Economist

Samuel Johnson | V&A

Nick Lowndes is an award winning illustrator with clients ranging from Barclays to The Economist. In the past he was also the Editorial Award Winner at the 2012 V&A Illustration Awards.

The winners of each category will be announced at the awards ceremony on May 16 at the V&A. Furthermore, all the winners will go on display outside the V&A’s National Art Library from May 17 until August 20.