University student shortlisted for prestigious annual Design Award

Lucie Williams, a student at the University, has been shortlisted by Penguin Random House UK for its prestigious annual Design Award. 

The 2015 Penguin Random House Design Award, which comprises the Adult Fiction Cover Award, Adult Non Fiction Cover Award and the Children’s Cover Award, received more than 1,200 entries from aspiring designers across the UK.

Lucie, 21, is one of just 10 students from across the UK including Cardiff, London, Blackpool and internationally the USA who made the Children’s Cover Award shortlist.

Her place on the shortlist puts her in the running to win a £1,000 cash prize and a design placement with the UK’s biggest book publisher.

Lucie took on the challenge of designing Nina Bawden’s Carrie’s War and will be judged by illustrator Cathy Cassidy; writer and illustrator Ed Vere and Penguin Random House UK’s Managing Director for Children’s Francesca Dow and Art Director Anna Billson.

Now in its ninth year, the Design Award offers students on an Art or Design course at HND or degree level exposure to and guidance from some of the publishing industry’s leading lights with the challenge to design a cover for a selected adult fiction, adult non-fiction or children’s book.  Penguin Random House Art Directors give shortlisted entrants feedback and further art direction on their cover submissions and invite them to resubmit their work by May 13th, taking all the comments on board, before the final round of judging. 

Lucie said, of her nomination “After being introduced to and quickly falling in love with designing book covers I decided to take a chance and enter the award, not even thinking in the slightest that I would be shortlisted, but it was a mix of extreme shock and joy that I had. I really hope that this fantastic opportunity will give me the next step up to enter the world of publishing, something that has now become my passion.”

Anna Billson, Art Director, Penguin Random House UK Children’s, leads a team of over 40 designers which includes some previous finalists for the Design Award.  She says “What I look for as a judge in this Award is much the same as what I look for whilst working with my team of talented designers every day.  It is about having a great eye for design and using it effectively to connect readers with the stories and experiences that are waiting for them beyond the cover.  Every year I am always excited when I see that genuine talent shine through.”

Tom Weldon, CEO, Penguin Random House UK, says “Penguin Random House has created thousands of iconic book covers and we pride ourselves in being a home for the best creative talent in our industry.  Through the Penguin Random House Design Award we are able to engage with a new generation of designers who, we hope, will join us in inspiring and entertaining readers everywhere, both now and in the future.”

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For more information, please contact the Univeristy's Press office on 01902 32 2003

About The Penguin Random House Design Award

The Penguin Random House Design Award is an opportunity for students on an Art or Design course at HND or degree level to engage in design for publishing during their studies and to experience real jacket-design briefs first-hand. Students may enter one design in either one or all three categories.

To make the process similar to the way a jacket designer works, once the judges have selected the shortlist, our Art Directors give the shortlisted entrants feedback and further art direction on their cover submissions. Shortlisted entrants are then invited to resubmit their work, taking all the comments on board, before the final round of judging.

Follow our updates on Twitter @PenguinUKBooks #PRHDesignAward

About Penguin Random House

Penguin Random House is the world’s first truly global trade book publisher.  It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies, owning 53% and 47% respectively.  Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India, Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and South Africa; Dorling Kindersley worldwide; and Random House’s companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.

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