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Abi's postcard is just the ticket in rail competition

ARU student wins £2,500 and will see her work exhibited at stations across the UK

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) student Abi Winter has been named as one of the winners of a national competition to design a postcard featuring a destination they can’t wait to visit.

The final year BA (Hons) Illustration student at ARU has received £2,500 after impressing the judges of Network Rail’s “Wish I Was There” competition, which earlier this year asked student illustrators across the UK to depict a place they would love to travel to once Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

Abi’s papercut picture of Portmeirion, a village near her hometown of Harlech in North Wales, is now available as a postcard, greeting card, and poster from the competition’s online shop. 

Along with the other winning entries, Abi’s picture has also gone on display at London Waterloo Station, where it will remain until 1 August, before the “Wish I Was There” exhibition travels to Reading Station (2-8 August), Liverpool Lime Street Station (9-15 August), and Leeds Station (16-22 August), before arriving at Glasgow Central Station (22-29 August).

Abi said:

“Winning this competition has been a great way to complete my studies at ARU.  Over the last three years I've fallen in love with Cambridge and decided to stay, especially as the pandemic has meant I haven't had time to explore everything that's around. So now I am an illustration graduate based in Cambridge, open for commissions!

“I'm looking forward to what the future holds, and where my journey will take me. I'm proud of myself and proud to have been part of Cambridge School of Art at ARU – it has been a joy!”

 

Chris Draper, Course Leader for the BA (Hons) in Illustration at ARU, said:

“In what has been a very difficult year for everyone, we are incredibly proud of Abi’s achievements in the Network Rail competition. What a great start to her freelance illustration career. 

“Using her wonderful model making skills, which challenge preconceptions about what illustration can be, her image is both optimistic and imaginative. With summer finally here, Abi’s image makes me want to pack a bag and head off to explore the wonderful village of Portmeirion in North Wales.”

 

Sir Peter Hendy CBE, chair of Network Rail, said:

“The standard of art submitted has been beyond exceptional and reflects how much we have all missed travelling. 

“The railway has a long history of creating works of art to promote the destinations that people can travel to by train, and the art submitted completely and utterly reflects that. This art will become a part of history, documenting what has been an unprecedented time for all of us.”