BA (Hons) Illustration student, Jake Alexander has won first prize for his submission in the Macmillan Prize for Illustration, for his work Can I Read My Books, Please?
The competition had an outstanding 260 submissions, with entries from students from 46 different universities and colleges. The winner was announced at the prize-giving ceremony on the 11 June in London’s Candid Arts Gallery.
The chair of judges and art & design director at Macmillan Children’s Books, Chris Innis explained that Jake submitted an “outstanding, thought-provoking entry.”
Jake offers up the inspiration behind the project, explaining: “For this project, I wanted to examine police brutality and systemic racism through the eyes of a child. By having the context be a children’s book it forced me to approach these topics subtly and to be extremely tactful”
He also went on to explain his gratitude for winning the competition, stating: “I was incredibly shocked and humbled when I found out that I had won this achievement, and it’s an amazing round off to my time here at AUB. It is also extremely encouraging that Macmillan decided to award something that is focused around these important issues.”
Additionally, two other AUB BA (Hons) Illustration students were highly commended by the judges:
Grace Boruch for Passport to Adventure
Beatrix Hatcher for The World’s Greatest Flea Circus
Congratulations to Jake, Grace and Beatrix on their fantastic achievements!
Find out more about BA (Hons) Illustration.
THE PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY
