MA Children’s Book Illustration students Kate Winter, Sally Dunne, Vyara Boyadjieva and Laura Winstone are in the running for the £3,000 first prize, alongside Ruo Hsin Wu from the Royal College of Art.
An ARU victory would continue a remarkable run of success in the V&A Student Illustrator of the Year competition, which is run by the world-famous design museum in London, with students from ARU’s Children’s Book Illustration MA course having won the prestigious prize for the last four years (2016-2019).
Laura Winstone, from Norwich, is shortlisted for her playful The Catmolean Museum, while Vyara Boyadjieva from Sofia, Bulgaria, made the final five thanks to her work The Wave.
Cambridge’s Kate Winter is shortlisted for Lascaux, while Sally Dunne from Rosenallis, Ireland, has been recognised for her powerful Home in the Kakuma Refugee Camp.
Shelley Jackson, Course Leader for the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at ARU, said: “We are extremely proud of these four students and it’s wonderful that their talent has been recognised through being nominated for this prestigious award.
This year’s V&A Student Illustrator of the Year competition is being judged by Folio Society art director Sheri Gee, and the illustrator Yehrin Tong, with the winner due to be announced on Tuesday, 2 June.
In addition to the quartet of students, Eva Eland, who graduated from ARU in 2018, has been shortlisted in the V&A’s Book Cover Award category for her book When Sadness Comes to Call (Anderson Press).
Image: Delftware cats by Laura Winstone