The V&A Illustration Awards is a free-to-enter, biennial competition that aims to celebrate excellence in the field. It was first established in 1972 and celebrates artworks made for the UK market by artists across the globe, as well as the work of UK-based illustrators.
This year’s competition received over 1,600 entries covering work made in 2024-25. The diversity of the medium is shown in the entries, which included everything from exhibition posters to animation, book cover designs to 3D installations.
Judging the work this time were artist and writer Lauren Child; director of the V&A, Tristram Hunt; artist and lecturer Mick Peter; and artist and writer Benjamin Phillips. Together they chose winning work in five categories: Adult Factual, Adult Fiction, Advertising and Commercial, Illustration for Children and Emerging Illustrator. From this list they then also awarded an Illustrator of the Year. All the winners for the 2026 awards can be viewed below.
Top and above: Views of Glasgow, A Window into Communities campaign by Annabel Wright; © Annabel Wright, Hunterian Art Gallery/Glasgow University, 2025
Annabel Wright – Winner of Advertising and Commercial and the Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year
Annabel Wright was awarded the advertising award and the overall Illustrator of the Year prize by the judges for her poster advertising a community-led art exhibition at the Hunterian Art Gallery which explored Glasgow’s past and present identity.
The design was intended to attract people who would not normally visit the gallery and Wright layered different drawing styles in the campaign to depict the variety of exhibits, set against a familiar Glasgow backdrop. The artist painted the various elements of the design separately then combined them using collage.
Julie Pereira – Winner of Adult Factual
Julie Pereira’s animation explains the work of the International Criminal Court, which investigates and brings to trial individuals who commit or authorise acts of aggression against other countries and peoples, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To convey this difficult subject matter, Pereira created simplified universal characters representing aggressor, judge and civilian.
62: A Model Kit, Bestiary and Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar, cover illustrations by Stephen Smith; © Stephen Smith, Vintage Classics, 2025
Stephen Smith – Winner of Adult Fiction
Stephen Smith conjured up the surreal and playful nature of French Argentine novelist Julio Cortázar’s writing on the covers of six of the author’s ground-breaking works (first published 1951–86).
The artist was asked to avoid pure abstraction in his artwork and included subtle figurative details to allude to some of the subject matter. Smith first developed his ideas in a sketchbook, then completed the designs using digital collage.
The Sleeper Train by Mick Jackson, illustration by Baljinder Kaur; © Baljinder Kaur, Walker Books 2025
Baljinder Kaur – Winner of Illustration for Children
The Sleeper Train follows the story of a little girl travelling overnight through India with her family. Wide awake in the carriage, she journeys in her mind’s eye to places she has slept before.
Baljinder Kaur drew on her own memories and experiences for the story, with much of her work celebrating her global Sikh Panjabi identity. She created her vibrant illustrations using a hybrid process of sketching by hand using pencil, then adding colour digitally.
Process by Vannysha Chang; © Vannysha Chang, 2025
Vannysha Chang – Winner of Emerging Illustrator
Process tells the story of an afternoon spent making music with friends, inspired by Vannysha Chang’s teenage years in Java, Indonesia. Her paintings depict each step in the process of making a song, utilising square canvases and thoughtful composition suggestive of vinyl record covers.