LONDON.- The Association of Illustrators, in partnership with the Directory of Illustration, announced the 16 category winners of the prestigious World Illustration Awards 2019.

An independent jury of 24 industry professionals and commissioners including Jim Stoddart, Art Director of Penguin Press, London, Connie Lam, Executive Director, Hong Kong Arts Centre and Leyla Reynolds, Art Director, gal-dem, judged over 3,600 submissions from 68 countries in eight categories to select a shortlist of 200 entries, from which the category winners have been chosen. Kirstie Johnstone, Creative Production Partner and Board Director of AMV BBDO said:

"The best thing about judging awards is the opportunity to discover new artists. Being able to see work and talent that I might otherwise not have the chance to see in illustration is my absolute favourite."

Each of the eight categories has a New Talent and a Professional winner, who will be given their awards at an awards ceremony held at Somerset House on 10 July. The Overall New Talent and Professional winners will be announced for the first time at the ceremony and awarded generous cash prizes.

Alongside the 16 Category Award Winners, organisers are able to award three brand new cross-category awards, including an AOI Members Award, a Directory of Illustration Award, and the Society of Artists Agents Award for New Talent, which will be announced for the first time on 10 July. Also new for this year are 16 Highly Commended awards (a professional and new talent award in each category), recognising the increasingly high standards of entries into the World Illustration Awards. Judge Simon Khalil, Global Creative Director, Arab News, highlights the importance of illustration today:

"Illustration plays a key role in visualising stories, especially when the subject is abstract or specific visuals do not immediately come to mind. Illustration adds colour, vibrance and energy to stories and can grab attention in ways a photoshoot or stock shot can't."

Highlights among the category winning projects include Sonja Stangl’s atmospheric, painterly illustrations for the marketing and branding for RAU, an Austrian restaurant located on the edge of a nature reserve; Astrid Jaekel’s wallpaper for the Wigtown's Festival Company ‘book town’ celebrations, used to wrap 11 building exteriors throughout the town; and Fiona Woodcock’s charming children’s book LOOK, which features images and typography created from hand-cut stamps throughout, celebrating the shape and sound of words.

All 200 shortlisted entries will be displayed at an exhibition at Somerset House from 11 – 28 July, with in-depth presentations of each of the category winning projects.

The Category Winners are:

• Advertising New Talent - Yang Illustration / Community Art Poster: Arts in the Three Lamps District

• Advertising Professional - Sonja Stangl / RAU - nature based cuisine

• Books, sponsored by NoBrow, New Talent - Sua Balac / Illustre Bilder - an illustration collection

• Books, sponsored by NoBrow Professional - Anna Mill / Square Eyes

• Children’s Books, sponsored by Walker Books, New Talent - Dani Choi / Where is My Baboon Hiding?

• Children’s Books, sponsored by Walker Books, Professional - Fiona Woodcock / Look

• Design New Talent - Fruzsina Fölföldi / Tale Trail: An Illustrated Sightseeing Kit

• Design Professional - Tim Easley / Modified Man

• Editorial New Talent - Lin Chen / ADD in Women

• Editorial Professional - Eleni Debo / When to stop

• Experimental New Talent - Patrick Dias / Connectivity

• Experimental Professional - Magoz / Distortion

• Research New Talent - Muto / In a landscape

• Research Professional - Kathryn Martin / Isadora Duncan

• Site Specific New Talent - Jinhwa Jang / NYC Streets

• Site Specific Professional - Astrid Jaekel / If These Walls Could Talk