Writtle University College and ARU have merged. Writtle’s full range of college, degree, postgraduate and short courses will still be delivered on the Writtle campus. See our guide to finding Writtle information on this site.

Our award-winning students

Cover of Gino book, with illustration of brown dog

Our students often receive industry recognition with success in major national and international competitions. Here are a few recent highlights:

 

Bologna Book Fair 2024

MA Children’s Book Illustration students Toby Rampton and Fatima Ordinola were winners at the Bologna Book Fair 2024, with their work being chosen for the Illustrators Exhibition, which travels for over two years on an international tour of museums, art galleries and libraries in countries including Japan, Korea, and China, as well as appearing in the renowned Illustrators Annual.



AOI World Illustration Awards 2023

Simona Massa won the New Talent category in this year's WIA awards for her book Gino (pictured top), developed while studying on our MA Children's Book Illustration course. Ziqian Lin, and Xinyue “Panda” ZhuBA also made the shortlist of these prestigious awards, along with six graduates from the course, while BA (Hons) Illustration student Tess Duffin made the longlist.


Illustration of woman in kitchen

Walker Books Picture This! Competition 2023

MA Children's Book Illustration students Aditi Anand (illustration pictured) and Charlotte Durance won the Walker Books Picture This! Competition 2023, along with graduate Chia Hsieh.



Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023

MA Children's Book Illustration student Heike Scharrer was selected to show at this prestigious exhibition, along with graduate Sandy Horsley, from the 3,000 submissions received.



Global Design Graduate Show 2023 in collaboration with Gucci

MA Fine Art student and BA Fine Art graduate Francesca Gagni was shortlisted for this prestigious show, with the winners announced in October 2023.


Karla Gryglicka with her display at New Designer 2023

New Designers 2023

BA (Hons) Illustration graduating student Klara Gryglicka (pictured) picked up The Association of Illustrators Spotlight Award for her work at New Designers 2023, winning a 1-year illustrator+ folio membership with the AOI for her efforts.



Golden Pinwheel Competition 2023

MA Children’s Book Illustration student Hu Huizi and graduates Thea Lu, Roozeboos (Anne Roos Kleiss), and Narisa Togo and were selected as 4 of 100 finalists in the Golden Pinwheel Competition 2023, and now go on to show their work at China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair 2023.



Amateur Photographer Magazine's Best in Show

Two of our BA (Hons) Photography students were nominated 'Best in Show' by Amateur Photographer magazine. Mark Morgan and Erin Thorogood had their work selected at the Free Range 2023 show in London, and follow in the footsteps of last year's graduate Aliz Kovacs-Zoldi, who was selected as Student Photographer of the Year 2022 by the magazine.


Leah Risby's cover for Stratford Literary Festival Young Poets Collection featuring red, orange and yellow letters of the alphabet

Stratford Literary Festival 2023

BA (Hons) Illustration student Leah Risby won the 2023 Stratford Literary Festival Design a Book Jacket Competition with her cover for the festival’s Young Poets Collection (pictured), earning a cash prize and a commission with publisher Little Toller Press.



Graduate Fashion Week 2023

BA (Hons) Fashion Design student Alejandro Martinez-Herreros was shortlisted for the Zandra Rhodes Fashion Textiles Award at this annual celebration of student fashion designs.



Macmillan Prize for Illustration 2023

MA Children's Book Illustration students Abi Xinyi Bi and Aditi Anand were awarded the overall second and third place prizes respectively, while another 7 of our students were highly commended.


Illustration of child and cat trying to catch ideas with net

Batsford Prize 2023

Forest Xiao (MA Children’s Book Illustration) is winner of the Children’s Illustration category for How To Catch An Idea (pictured), with Xinbi Yin (BA Fine Art), Naomi Tipping (BA Illustration) and Justin Worsley (MA Children's Book Illustration) runners-up in their categories. Four other CSA students made the shortlist.



Freelands Painting Prize 2023

Chloe Culley (BA Fine Art) is 1 of 12 winning students across the UK with her work Untitled (Red) in this celebration of outstanding painting practice at undergraduate level.



Image from Navigating Dyslexia by Kate Rolfe

AOI World Illustration Awards 2022

MA Children's Book Illustration student Kate Rolfe won this year's Children's Publishing category for her picturebook Navigating Dyslexia (pictured), while Carole Bouvier took home the SAA Agents Award for New Talent, along with a prize of agency representation. A further seven Cambridge School of Art students made the shortlist for their entered category, with another ten making it to the longlist.



V&A Student Illustrator of the Year 2022

Kate Rolfe's Navigating Dyslexia also won this year's V&A Student Illustrator of the Year award, the sixth consecutive year that the prize has been won by a student from our MA Children's Book Illustration course - an astounding achievement. Fellow student Amy Hunter was also shortlisted for the student award, while 2020 graduate Sally Dunne made the shortlist for the V&A Book Cover Design award.


Illustration of two girls and a man with huge queue of people in background

Macmillan Prize 2022

MA Children's Book Illustration students and alumni swept the board at this year's prestigious competition, with Heike Scharrer named overall winner for her picturebook The Queue (pictured), fellow student Jennifer Spooner taking second prize for The Whittling Woodsman, and Kate Rolfe winning third place for Wolf and Bear.



Batsford Prize 2022

MA Children's Book Illustration student Justin Worsley won the Children's Illustration category of this year's Batsford Prize with his picturebook Aliens in the Park, while alumnus Kate Rolfe was runner-up in the same section with her picturebook Wolf and Bear. Frances Ives, from the same course, was awarded a runner-up prize in The People's Choice Award, for her book Sometimes.


Illustration of girl and two birds transporting huge piles of food

Stratford Salariya Children’s Picture Book Prize 2022

MA Children’s Book Illustration student Katarina Dragoslavić (Devlin) won the 2022 Stratford Salariya Children’s Picture Book Prize with her book The Little Hungry Dinosaur (pictured). She took away a prize worth £1000, including career advice from a leading literary agent, publicity through Stratford Literary Festival and the possibility of publication by The Salariya Book Company.



The Zandra Rhodes Fashion Textiles Award 2022

BA (Hons) Fashion Design student Joao Marcelo was shortlisted for this award at Graduate Fashion Week 2022.


Flavia Z Drago with her prize

Klaus Flugge Prize 2021

PhD student Flavia Z Drago (pictured) won the 2021 Klaus Flugge Prize, awarded to the most exciting and promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration, for debut picture book Gustavo, The Shy Ghost (Walker Books), which also topped The New York Times' best sellers list for children's picture books.



World Illustration Awards 2021

BA (Hons) Illustration student Tabitha Wall won the 'New Talent' category for her sustainability awareness posters in this hugely prestigious and international competition run by the Association of Illustrators.



A wolf, cyclops and slime monster sitting at a table covered in food

New Designers 2021

At New Designers 2021, BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Sabine Buhain was awarded the Screening Award, sponsored by the Aardman Academy, for her film Like It Was Yesterday (pictured).



Network Rail competition

BA (Hons) Illustration student Abi Winter was a winner in Network Rail’s “Wish I Was There” competition for her papercut pictures of Portmeirion. As well as receiving a prize of £2,500, Abi’s work will be put on display at several stations around Britain as part of the competition’s travelling exhibition.



Macmillan Prize for Illustration 2021

In the 2021 Macmillan Prize for Illustration, 18 of the 25 highly commended came from students on our MA Children’s Book Illustration, with Laura Winstone being named as overall runner-up for her book The Catmolean Mewseum, and Yichun Ma finishing third with My Quiet Dad.



Penguin Design Awards 2021

Students Kata Kocsispeter (BA Illustration) and Loredana Burdo (BA Graphic Design) made the shortlist of the Penguin Design Awards 2021, Kata in the Non-Fiction cover category, and Loredana in the Fiction Cover category.



Batsford Prize 2021

Kin Choi Lam (MA Children’s Book Illustration) won the Children’s Illustration category in the Batsford Prize 2021, run by Pavilion Books. Fellow students Cathy Eliot and Sidsel Lindhagen achieved runners-up places, while Evie Fridel was the People’s Choise runner-up, and Jihye Seo and Joanna Ghosh also shortlisted.


Home in Kakuma Refugee Camp - by Sally Dunne

V&A Illustration Awards 2020

For the fifth successive year, the winner of the V&A Student Illustrator of the Year went to a graduating student from Cambridge School of Art. Sally Dunne, took the top prize of £3000 for her work Home in Kakuma Refugee Camp (pictured). Vyara Boyadjieva was named as the student runner-up, while Eva Eland claimed the V&A’s Book Cover Award and Kate Winter and Laura Winstone were both highly commended. Sally, Eva, Kate and Laura are all graduates of our MA Children's Book Illustration course.



Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition

Joe Dean (MA Fine Art) and Ayeshah Zolghadr (MA Printmaking) were 2 of 56 practitioners selected to exhibit at the international Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition. The pair were chosen from 4,274 submissions received across the UK and internationally.



Carmelite Picture Book Prize 2020

Ellan Rankin, another of our MA Children's Book Illustration students, won the 2020 Carmelite Picture Book Prize, a competition run by the Hachette publishing group and open to students from across the UK. As well as getting to illustrate a new book written by Jeanne Willis, Ellan will receive a cheque for £1,000.


A peacock constructed from coloured paper by Megan Dymock

Association of Illustrators' Top Ten Students 2020

Graduating BA (Hons) Illustration students Jodie Howard and Megan Dymock were selected as two of the Association of Illustrators’ Top Ten Students to Watch 2020. Megan was picked for her photographs of 3D sets made from intricate paperwork (pictured), while Jodie’s work consists of illustrations and animations that use gouache and coloured pencil. Every year the AOI work with students from universities all across the UK, so to be picked for this list takes something very special indeed.



Joana Pinto with her New Designers 2019 award and winning display

New Designers 2019

BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Joana Pinto (pictured) won the Screening Room Prize, while BA (Hons) Illustration student Kezia Hulse received the Mollie Makes Associate Prize with her National Trust Spring Walks posters at this annual trade show, where our graduating students get to share their work with prospective clients and employers.



3x3 Student Show 2019

Three of our MA Children's Book Illustration students received Merits in this influential competition run by international illustration magazine 3x3 - Dowon Kwon, Yingan Chen and Chiu-Hsuan Huang, Honourable Mentions also went to fellow MA student Tzu-Chun Chang and BA (Hons) Illustration student Cecelia Wood.



Cambridge Folk Festival T-Shirt Competition 2019

Before her success at New Designers 2019, BA (Hons) Illustration student Kezia Hulse won the 2019 Cambridge Folk Festival T-shirt competition, and was also a winner in our Sustainability Art Prize 2018.



Sophie Burrows with her award and winning work

V&A Illustration Awards 2019

MA Children's Book Illustration student Sophie Burrows (pictured) was named Student Illustrator of the Year at the V&A Illustration Awards for her book "Crushing". This was the fourth consecutive year that a student from Cambridge School of Art has won the award, following successes for Joseph Namara Hollis in 2018, Beatriz Lostalé Seijo in 2017, and Kate Milner in 2016.