Staffordshire based student named as National Illustration competition winner

A University of Wolverhampton Illustration student has been named as the big winner of an Illustration competition.

The competition has been set up by The Orion Publishing Group and Illustration Ltd, a top leading illustration agency.Kate Ackley, who is a final year student on the Illustration Course at the Faculty of Arts, has been announced as the first place winner in the inaugural Student Illustration competition.

University of Wolverhampton student Kate Ackley said: “I am extremely delighted to have won the competition and am very excited about the opportunity to work with two such well-established companies at the start of my career.

“I'm very grateful to have had the chance to illustrate a cover for such an interesting book.

“My idea was in‌spired by an intriguing metaphor that likens the universe to a rabbit being pulled from a hat, and references the humans that dwell inside the rabbit's fur.”

The Orion & Illustration Ltd Student Illustration competition was launched on Thursday, 1 January 2015 to discover and nurture new talent in illustration.

The competition was open to all illustration students, who were challenged to redesign the cover for one of three Orion books which included Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce and Best Knickers Always by Rebecca Perkins.

Staffordshire-based Kate has won the opportunity to work with the award-winning Art Department at Orion and to have her design appear on the book. She has also won a 12 month mentoring course from Illustration Ltd, who will provide support with her portfolio to prepare it for graduation and she will also be able to visit the agency in London who will option her work for future representation.

Subject leader of Visual Communication, Illustration and Graphic Design, John Clementson said: “We are delighted with Kate’s success; this is a tremendous opportunity for her and another student achievement that the Illustration and Graphic Design subject teams are proud of.

“It is such an honour for us to be able to celebrate this particularly because both the winner and the runner-up of the inaugural competition are studying at the University.

“We hope and expect that Kate will make full use of this opportunity to work with such prestigious international companies.”

There was a high level of work with 50 entries submitted from colleges across the UK and all entries were judged by a panel of senior agents, directors and designers of Orion Publishing Group and Illustration Ltd.

ENDS

For more information please contact Iyma Atiq  in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322448.