We bring you all the winners of the World Illustration Awards 2024

Last night, the winners of the World Illustration Awards were announced via an online ceremony hosted by renowned artist Aurélia Durand, along with a collection of special guests to present them. Today on Creative Boom, you can check out the winning artworks.

Alongside the Society of Illustrators Awards in the United States, the UK’s World Illustration Awards rank among the most prestigious across the applied arts. Run by the Association of Illustrators, which is based in London, the awards are open to illustrators globally and cover ten categories.

In each category, a professional and new talent winner was selected, and highly commended artists were also noted. In addition, sponsored awards were presented last night – some of which overlapped with category winners.

With high-powered judging panels featuring leaders in the industry, the awards recognise not just the winners but over 5,500 artworks, which were entered from 75 countries.

“Our 2024 winners truly excel in their fields, illustrating complex narratives and ideas through their work. They also highlight the importance of illustration in our everyday lives, in books, news, packaging, murals, and more. We are proud to recognise these artists for their significant contributions to the illustration industry and to showcase exceptional illustration talent from around the globe,” said AOI’s CEO, Rachel Hill.

Here at Creative Boom, we decided to celebrate the field of illustration by bringing you the full listing of the winners so that you can be inspired by the artwork or maybe even identify an artist you’d like to collaborate with on a future project.

Professional Overall Winner: Mark Smith

After winning the Professional award in the Editorial category for his image The Missing Mouseketeer, Mark Smith was also announced as the Overall Professional winner by the judges. The image was commissioned by the Alta Journal to accompany a piece about one of the original members of the Mickey Mouse club, Dennis Day, who went missing and the mystery surrounding his disappearance.

Daniel Cobb, a judge in the editorial category, said: “This is an amazing execution that brings a dark and moody undertone to the world of Disney that’s typically so overly positive and unblemished. The illustrator’s understanding and skill with depth and natural light is next-level; there’s a sense of photo-realism at first glance that’s quiet captivating, and I love the use of colour throughout the entire collection.”

Mark’s prize includes £2000 in cash, a two-page marketing package in the Directory of Illustration worth $2,700, and a 100-image professional portfolio on directoryofillustration.com.

New Talent Overall Winner: Kayla Salim

In the Publishing category, Kayla Salim was awarded the New Talent prize, and the artist also took the Overall New Talent award for the image Ama No Inori: Prayer of the Ama. Kayla, who was studying at Sheffield Hallam University, created the piece as part of her course. The book she has created depicts the 2000-year-old Japanese pearl diving tradition known as Ama.

Category judge Jenny Grigg commented: “Very sophisticated work for a student. Thoughtfully resolved and designed to a professional standard, including use of scale variation (dynamic change) across single pages, covers and double page spreads, extended/inventive use of two colours.”

Kayla has won £1000 in cash, a copy of the Directory of Illustration and a year-long AOI membership.

AOI Member Award Winner: Glen McBeth

When BBC History magazine tackled the question of what was used for deodorant in the olden days, illustrator Glen McBeth turned to the works of the poet Ovid, who, peculiarly, once wrote about avoiding allowing the ‘rude goat’ under one’s arm. Presumably, this was in reference to body odour, and Glen imagined the scene in a mosaic-style image.

Advertising Professional Winner: Sveta Dorosheva

When the British Library hosted its fantasy exhibition last year, the organisation chose the Israeli illustrator Sveta Dorosheva to create a piece of key art covering fantasy literature throughout the ages and from around the world. Sveta’s artwork includes over 50 references to characters and stories from the realms of fantasy – all meticulously hand-drawn and intertwined with an environment that brings together the British Library’s architecture with fantasy locations.

Advertising New Talent Winner: Zhang Jiayi

Originally from China but studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, USA, Zhang Jiayi decided to create artwork to honour the Master Bao Pastry shops in his hometown. His aim with the work was to capture a sense of nostalgia, help the business improve brand visibility, and attract customers.

The Highly Commended artists in Advertising were Su Yun Song and Sebastiano Fossali.

Animation Professional Winner: Xaver Böhm

Created for the Marshall Project and VICE News, Xaver Böhm ‘s illustrations became the basis for The Economy of Solitary Confinement, a film that looks at how prisoners in solitary confinement cope and even manage to trade things with other prisoners as they struggle against the isolation.

Animation New Talent Winner: Fangfang Han

The hustle and bustle of the London Underground comes to life in Fangfang Han ‘s animation project, The Tube. Created to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the Underground, the work has been featured on TfL’s Instagram account. It was made using paper cutouts shot using stop-motion, digital art created in Procreate, with editing in Adobe Premiere Pro.

In addition to winning the New Talent award in Animation, FangFang Han also won the Society of Artists Agents Award New Talent award on the night.

Tsz-wing Ho and Jiayin Zhang were the Highly Commended artists in Animation.

Book Covers Professional Winner: Thomas Hayman

Based in Paris, illustrator Thomas Hayman ‘s winning work in the Book Cover category actually consisted of seven illustrations for novels by Italian author Italo Calvino. They were commissioned by the Vintage Classics imprint at Penguin Random House for a reissue that marks the novelist’s 100th anniversary. The illustrator’s style merges a sense of nostalgia with futurism, which makes his work quite beguiling.

Book Covers New Talent Winner: Teow Jing Ming

An illustration student at Taipei Shih Chien University, Teow Jing Ming, created this image to capture how people grow – both physically and in terms of the ageing process. The hair in the image grows like grass, and the artist connects it to how, as a child grows, their parent ages. Although presented in the Book Cover category, it isn’t connected to a book per se.

Work by Marta Orlowska and Sergiy Maidukov was Highly Commended in the Book Covers category.

Children’s Publishing Professional Winner: Kate Rolfe

Children’s illustration is one of the most highly competitive spaces in the creative industries and there’s always excellent work being produced. This year, Kate Rolfe was the judges’ choice for her work on Wriggling Words, which she has written and illustrated. Through imagery created using letterpress blocks, cyanotype printing and ink drawings, Kate’s book will help neurodivergent children face the challenge of learning to read informed by the illustrator’s own experiences.

Children’s Publishing New Talent Winner: Lizzy Metcalfe

Mr Crisps is a proposed children’s book in tribute to the father of illustrator Lizzy Metcalfe‘s children, who sadly passed away. The imagery aims to help them come to terms with his death by imagining places he could be and things he could be doing, along with a ginger cat – an illustrated adventure. The artworks were created using Procreate.

In Children’s Publishing, the Highly Commended artists were Amber Au and Yuxin Ding.

Design, Product and Packaging Professional Winner: Jun Ioneda

With the craft spirits revolution there has been a proliferation of brands and products in the spirits category creating plenty of opportunities for illustrators to come up with label artwork to meet the demand. Brazilian graphic artist Jun Ioneda caught the eye of the judges with his rainbow-effect vodka labels for Hotel Tango Distillery, commissioned to celebrate Pride.

Design, Product and Packaging New Talent Winner: Pingnan Lu

The winning work in the New Talent section for Design, Product and Packaging was as colourful as in the Professional part. Fashion Institute of Technology student Pingnan Lu, who has relocated to the US from China, created a set of letterpress postcards depicting the four seasons in a colour-coded format, incorporating animals, plants and food.

Martha Olivia and Lucy Davey were Highly Commended in Design, Product and Packaging.

Editorial New Talent Winner: Sia Yang

With Mark Smith taking the Professional awards in Editorial and Overall (see above), the New Talent winner in this category was Sia Yang, whose stunning piece depicting gymnast Zhang Boheng was commissioned by Harpers Bazaar China. The young artist is based in New York, where she is studying Illustration and Game Design. She uses a variety of media, including Procreate.

The Editorial Highly Commended awards went to Cheng Zhibin and Dion MB.

Exploration Professional Winner: Inès Pagniez

The Exploration category is an open forum for artists’ self-initiated work, whether for self-promotion, self-expression, or to develop new areas of creativity. Following pregnancy and coping with caring for an infant, French sculptor Inès Pagniez created a series of stop-motion animations that highlight some of the not-so-glamorous parts of motherhood.

Exploration New Talent Winner: Zhang Xuyang

Say the word ‘cat’, and it gets people interested. So focusing on the lifestyles of six different cats was a winning decision by Tianjin University student Zhang Xuyang when she created her Cats Apartment series. She has visualised the architecture of the feline apartment building in three different ways and provided lifestyle imagery of the cats across the project.

In Exploration, artists Ro Fen and Amogh Lux were Highly Commended.

Publishing Professional Winner: River Jiang

Do Don’t is an illustrated book created by Chinese illustrator River Jiang, who is studying at the University of the Arts London. It explores how rules dominate our daily lives, ranging from instruction manuals to road signs to more ambiguous things like the mores of society. The symbols she illustrates represent the rules, with the project silk screen printed.

The New Talent Winner in the Publishing category was also the Overall New Talent Winner, Kayla Salim (covered above), while the Highly Commended works were by Katy Edelsten and Kate Osmond.

Science and Technology Professional Winner: Jennifer NR Smith, WonderTheory

The publisher Thames and Hudson must be well happy with the creativity of Jennifer NR Smith of the creative studio [WonderTheory])https://www.wondertheory.co.uk) put into BANG: The Wild Wonders of Earth’s Phenomena. Illustrated in a way that incorporates the book’s educational content, her imagery depicts volcanoes, geysers, caves, crystals and all that elemental stuff that goes on beneath the Earth’s surface, cutting it wide open with… um… cutaway illustrations and the like. Infographics have never been so hot.

Science and Technology New Talent Winner: Nightcrow

The tech-inspired imagery of Computationalism, a series by Chinese illustrator Nightcrow, is what won the judges over as they selected the New Talent Winner in the Science and Technology category. As well as imagining magazine spreads and posters, Nightcrow is studying computer science and loves drawing nature, wildlife and, yes, technology.

In Science and Technology, Highly Commended went to Xinyue Chen and Hyun Jin.

Site Specific Professional Winner: Bomfha

In the tenth and final category, the Professional award went to Bomfha, the creator of a series of phenomenal murals for the Asian food court at Emsphere Mall in Bangkok. The works span two floors and celebrate the street festivals and parades of various countries in the region through brightly coloured characters and creatures.

Site Specific New Talent Winner: Sammi Wong

New Talent Winner Sammi Wong has reimagined Ipswich using enormous pieces of urban art to bring life and colour to some of its grey, concrete structures. A student at the University of Suffolk, Sammi’s project demonstrates what the town could look like with a view to rekindling a sense of pride in the place.

Highly Commended artists in Site Specific were Joël de Ruiter and Miguel Bustos.

Digital Innovation Award Winner: Jason Raish

Illustrator Jason Raish collaborated with Dandy Wellington to raise money for the Fashion Institute of Technology Black Student Illustrators Award in 2023 through the creation and sale of two 12×17-inch prints. With a mid-century vibe, the artworks sold for $3000, which was awarded to two black illustration students in an industry where only three per cent of artists are black.

Huion Digital Innovation Award Winner: Cai Ruchen

Entered in the Editorial category, Cai Ruchen’s series, which focuses on authority and glory, won the award sponsored by Huion. It explores what we sacrifice to win praise and honour. The artist is a UI designer and a self-taught illustrator who works in Procreate and Illustrator.