We are very pleased to announce that Viola Wang has been awarded the 7th
annual Sebastian Walker Award for Illustration.
Viola’s illustration stood apart from a group of MA students’
work that was this year, once again, exceptional. Viola was awarded her prize at
a private viewing of the exhibition in the Candid Arts Gallery in Islington.
Set up in honour of Walker’s founder, Sebastian Walker, this award is
dedicated to discovering and celebrating exciting new unpublished illustration
talent. The Sebastian Walker Award was created in 2011 and is partnered with
Anglia Ruskin’s Cambridge School of Art and their MA course in Children’s Book
Illustration. Walker Books have published more than 20 books by Cambridge
School of Art graduates since Birgitta Sif’s Greenaway Medal shortlisted Oliver in 2012 and continue to work with
many previous award winners and shortlistees.
About Viola Wang
“I was
born and raised in Beijing, China. Having spent ten years in England, I fully
embrace the multicultural environment in London, to the point where diversity
and equality have become my main focus – understanding where we come from and
learning about other cultures. I see diversity as an increasingly important
feature of children’s literature. I want the children who read my books to
experience a wide range of information and views, so that they will grow up
with their own opinions about – and solutions for – the world around them.”
Find Viola online: www.violawang.com
@ViolaWangStudio
Deirdre
McDermott, Walker Picture Book Publisher and Creative Director said:
"Viola’s fresh and original work captured our attention
from the moment we opened her portfolio. Her pictures combine a contemporary
sense of style with bold colour with a strong understanding of artistic
composition to create artwork that is truly striking. A concern for diverse
representation and an intuition for the child’s perspective are threaded
through her work, and we admire how her art seeks to explore and express the
rich variety of our world. We look forward to seeing her first picture book and
to watching her flourish into an exciting and relevant picture book maker.
This year we also remember our dear Louise Power, who
passed away last year. Louise was our
Art Department Manager at Walker for more than 25 years. She was heavily
involved with, and so inspired by, the Sebastian Walker Award and we have truly
missed her valuable and insightful contribution this year."
