Templar Illustration and Design Award expands for 2020
The 2020 award will for the first time include categories for children’s non-fiction illustration and children’s fiction cover design, alongside its picture book illustration category. The award will also be open to international submissions.
As part of the expansion, Templar is increasing the number of judges for the award, with a number of high-profile illustrators and industry professionals already confirmed, including Chris Wormell and IBBY Executive Sophie Hallam.
The 2020 judging panel will include: London-based illustrator Katie Scott (Botanicum, Animalium), Kate Greenaway medalist Grahame Baker-Smith (The Wind in the Willows, FArTHER), celebrated illustrator, artist and winner of the 2019 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize Chris Wormell (Planetarium, Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust series), New Designer of the Year shortlisted and Macmillan Prize commended Bethany Christou (Slow Samson), Professor of Illustration at Cambridge School of Art and Director of the Centre for Children’s Book Studies Martin Salisbury, and IBBY Executive Sophie Hallam.
More judges are to be announced in 2020.
‘Discovering new talent and inspiring the next generation of creatives is of paramount importance to us, and as such we are delighted to be expanding the award.’
Jane Harris, Managing Director of Children’s Trade, Bonnier Books UK
Jane Harris, Managing Director of Children’s Trade at Bonnier Books UK, said: ‘Design and illustration in children’s publishing have the power to begin a lifelong love of books. At Bonnier Books UK we share a passion for publishing the most original and visually stunning books with a mind for creating classics for future generations.
‘Discovering new talent and inspiring the next generation of creatives is of paramount importance to us, and as such we are delighted to be expanding the award.’
Genevieve Webster, Art Director for Templar and Big Picture Press, said: ‘We can’t wait to see what unique and diverse emerging talent the 2020 award will attract, and we are incredibly excited at the prospect of the innovative and beautiful future publishing that will come from it.’
The 2020 Templar Illustration Award will open for entries from 2 March 2020, closing on 29 May 2020. The award is open to unpublished illustrators over the age of 18, with cash prizes awarded for the first, second and third place in each category.
The theme of the 2020 award is ‘Future Vision’. Entrants will be asked to submit work that envisages an imaginative and creative future. Full illustrator and designer briefs for each category will be announced closer to the submission date.
Paula White was named winner of the 2019 Templar Illustration Award for her submission Bread, Buns and Biscuits, which draws upon her family’s rich maritime history. Emma Chadwick won the inaugural award for her story Douglas in the Land of Faraway. The book is to be published by Templar in 2021.
