OUGD503 - Studio Brief 02 - Previous Winners

2017 Winner:
"The Truth About Old People" was last years winner, a humorous story about challenging the stereotypes of old people.

This winning illustration shows that the judges are looking for stories with an original narrative. This one in particular focuses on a topic which is not typically addressed to children since it isn't seen as important or something which would be of interest to children of a young age. However, perhaps children should be taught about these things and this book does not avoid talking about such difficult subjects, but instead presents it in a fun and engaging way.

Many of the previous winners, including this one, also do not make use of too much text, something which should be utilised in our own designs. There is plenty of white space on each page around the illustrations, enough for the text to not be dismissed. Although the use of little text, this has been composed in an engaging way which can be seen to relate to the narrative of the story. For instance, the sloped text which mimics the movement of the characters skating downhill. This means the children can engage with the story and the illustrations as one whole making the reading experience more enjoyable for them.

2016 Winners:
"Hide and Seek", a picture book which the judges described as 'uniquely atmospheric'.

These past winners show what the judges often look for in submissions, the main thing being the narrative of the story. The 2016 winner was described as 'technically skilled, illustrations which are saturated with meaning and layers of story. She knows how to manipulate her audience and we were all intrigued, unsettles and enthralled". Although the quality of the illustrations are the main criteria which entries are assessed on, another key element is how well these illustrations contribute to the narrative of the story and characterisation which is something which should be carefully considered in our own illustrations.

These also show that the judges often look for illustrations which make use of more original styles, such as collage, shown in the last image, which can help produce more texture within the illustrations that children can think of as a 'fun' element to the story as well as making images more relatable if they can associate the texture with a specific object.