The Northern Illustration Festival run by The Northern School of Art is now on from 23 June to the end of September 2023.
The Northern School of Art in collaboration with project partner the Association of Illustrators announced a call out for ‘The Northern Illustration Prize 2023’ in May, and the Shortlist is now available to view on their website, where you can vote for your favourite project!
This year is the third iteration of the competition as part of the biennial Northern Festival of Illustration. In past years this has attracted hundreds of entries from six continents.
The Prize aims to celebrate the very best in illustration across the globe and entries were received from a range of emerging illustrators and professional illustrators.
The Prize heralds the start of the award-winning biennial ‘The Northern Festival of Illustration’ which returned to Hartlepool this summer. This year the Northern School of Art’s hometown of Hartlepool hosts the Tall Ships race and so the Prize is themed around ‘The Sea’ asking illustrators to interpret how the sea connects us all and our stories or how it has helped to create the places we live in now. Illustrators might also choose to reflect the Tall Ships race itself.
The Northern Illustration Prize shortlist was selected by staff from The Northern School of Art and the AOI. All shortlisted entries are exhibited here and the two winners will be announced in late September. This year we are asking everyone who visits the Festival to join a public vote to choose the winners who will each win £1,000.
The competition ran throughout May and was hosted on the AOI’s website.
Pat Chapman, Vice Principal at The Northern School of Art, said “We’re delighted to announce the launch of this major international art prize to celebrate the contribution of illustrators to the creative arts and to our own enjoyment throughout our everyday lives. The purpose of the Prize is to celebrate the diverse world of illustration and provide a platform to celebrate the many different careers for illustrators – from product design through comics, cartoons, gaming, literature and the movie industry.
We are very excited to see how our illustrators interpret our theme ‘The Sea’. The sea has helped to form Hartlepool through history and in this year of hosting the Tall Ships Race we wanted to link the prize to have a relevant nautical theme.“
“The Northern School of Art holds a special position in the illustration community and we are delighted to host the competition for a third time.” Rachel Hill, CEO at the Association of Illustrators.
The Northern Festival of Illustration runs from 23rd June until the end of September with a programme of exhibitions, live events and opportunities for the community to get involved in making art. All events and experiences are free.