The Batsford Prize 2017 winners

Winners of The Batsford Prize 2017 ‘Interpreting Nature’

The winners of the Batsford Prize 2017 awards for art students have been announced at an event at Cass Art’s Islington flagship store. From a record number of entries responding to this year’s theme ‘Interpreting Nature’, the judges had the task to crown one winner for each of the four categories, which comprised Fine and Applied Art, Fashion, Illustration and, new for this year, Children’s Illustration.

Pavilion Children’s Publisher Neil Dunnicliffe took the audience by surprise while presenting the Children’s Illustration category, announcing that in addition to the advertised £500 cash prize, the winner would also be offered a book deal with Pavilion Children’s Books. A book deal was not originally part of the prize, but the work of winner Katie Cottle, from the BA Illustration course at the University of the West of England, made quite an impression.

Neil Dunnicliffe, Publisher of Pavilion Children’s Books said: ‘The standard of entries in the children’s illustration category was amazingly high and it was difficult narrowing the submissions down. We were so impressed with the winning entry, from Katie Cottle, that we decided to award a book contract with Pavilion Children’s Books as an additional prize. We’re always searching for fresh new talent, and Katie certainly fits that bill; we look forward to publishing her book shortly.’

Now in its 5^th year, the Batsford Prize is an annual award organised by art book publisher Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books, and is open for students of art, fashion, illustration and related subjects. The winner of each category receives a £500 cash prize from Batsford. In addition, art supply shop Cass Art provides a further cash prize of £500 for the overall winner across the four categories, ‘The Cass Art Award’.

Tina Persaud, Publishing Director of Batsford said: ‘This year’s Batsford Prize has been inundated with entries and the standard of work has been outstanding. As the publisher of books on the creative arts, I am delighted to see so much innovative work that bodes well for my own industry and the wider British art world.’

Fine/Applied Art:

Winner: Jemima Hall, Oxford Brookes University, ‘Temporality’
Runner up: Farah Ishaq, University of East London, ‘Mural for St. James’
Runner up: Nathan Walker, University of Derby, ‘Individuality’

Fashion

Winner: Valeriia Kostina, London College of Fashion, ‘Sensorium’
Runner up: Brittany Alker, University of Central Lancashire, ‘Alternative Nature’
Runner up: Evangelina Rodriguez Gonzalo, London College of Fashion, ‘Where the River Meets Fashion’

Illustration:

Winner: Shih-Hsien Hsu, Royal College of Art, ‘The Fragments’
Runner up: Andrew Wilson, University of West England, ‘Wool Gathering’
Runner up: Ursula Tolliday-Bolland, Cambridge School of Art, ‘Desert’, ‘Jungle’, ‘Mountains’, ‘Ocean’ & ‘Arctic’

Children’s Illustration (presented by Pavilion Children’s Books)

Winner: Katie Cottle, University of the West of England, ‘Home Grown’
Runner up: Anna Doherty, Cambridge School of Art, ‘Forest’
Runner up: Hannah Mitchell, Arts University Bournemouth, ‘Deforestation’

Cass Art Award

Winner: Jemima Hall, Oxford Brookes University, ‘Temporality’

Fine/Applied Art:

Winner: Jemima Hall, Oxford Brookes University, ‘Temporality’ (also winner of the Cass Art Award)