The winners of the World Illustration Awards 2021 include work exploring life under lockdown and Oscar-winning film Minari.
The annual awards are run by the Association of Illustrators (AOI) in partnership with the Directory of Illustration. There were 20 category winners overall as well as four cross-category award winners picked from over 5,000 entries.
Prizes are awarded to illustration work across the industry, from best packaging design to personal exploration in professional and new talent categories. Two overall winners were announced: Dani Choi for Cabinet of Curiosities and Fatinha Ramos for The Other US Epidemic.
The Night Manager cover, by Ioana Bolchis, winner in Book Covers, New Talent
All competition entries were created from between January 2020 and February 2021, meaning that the illustrators were working during the pandemic – with all “the social and financial impacts that came with it”, AOI CEO Ren Renwick says.
Renwick highlights the “resilience, creativity, imagination and vitality” of the illustration industry over the past year. “We have been overwhelmed by the joy, brilliance and variety of work that was entered this year,” she adds.
You can check out all the winning projects below, and the 200 shortlisted entries on the AOI’s website.
[more] by Marie Doerfler, winner in Advertising, New TalentMinari movie postcards, by Sojung Kim-McCarthy, winner in Advertising, ProfessionalMai covver, by Dide Tengiz, winner in Children’s Publishing, New TalentDays Spent in Isolation, by Jason Chuang, winner of the AOI Members AwardFrom London Heading South: a zine, by Amy Moss, winner in Alternative Publishing, ProfessionalMaya Angelou book cover, by Shabazz Larkin, winner in Book Covers, Professional Book CoversThe Other US Epidemic, by Fatinha Ramos, winner in Children’s Publishing, ProfessionalCollection, by Jialei Sun, winner in Editorial, New TalentCain & Abel, by Katie Bullimore, winner in Commercial Publishing, New TalentThe Other US Epidemic, by Fatinha Ramos, winner in Editorial, ProfessionalPortraits of Westlake, by Dominic Bodden, winner in Exploration, New TalentMorphing Shadow, by Maryam Khaleghiyyazdi, winner in Exploration, ProfessionalTypographic Bacteria, by Xavier Segers, winner of the Innovation awardSilk Road Wonders, by Grace Park 7, winner of the SAA Agents’ Award for New TalentInteractive Educational Path, by Timea Zsofia Terenyei, winner in Site Specific, New TalentWorkings of Sheffield, by Willustration, winner in Site Specific, ProfessionalLiving With Endometriosis, by Justyna Green, winner in Alternative Publishing, New TalentBook of Trespass, by Nick Hayes, winner in Commercial Publishing, ProfessionalNew World Poster series, by Zamo Peza, winner in Design, Product & Packaging, ProfessionalPersonal Exploration, by Iris de Luz, winner of the DI awardSustainability Awareness posters, by Tabitha Wall, winner in Science & Technology, New TalentCabinet of Curiosities, by Dani Choi, winner in Design, Product & Packaging, New TalentEarth’s Processes, by Victoria Nakada, winner in Science & Technology, Professional
As part of our series on design in 2024, WeWantMore creative director Ruud Belmans offers his view on what retail and experience design might look like next year.
