Penguin Book Cover - Design Awards

There are two different competitions which can be entered as part of the Penguin Book Cover - design awards. These are -

1.) The Penguin Adult's book prize

2.) The Puffin Children's book prize

With out even researching either, I am instantly drawn to the Puffin Children's book prize, as Children's illustration is a direction that I would like to enter as an professional illustrator.

1.) The Puffin Children's book prize -

Competition brief -

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
An enormous, angry rhinoceros that has escaped from London Zoo has eaten James’s parents. And it gets worse! James is packed off to live with his two really horrible aunts, Sponge and Spiker. Poor James is miserable, until something peculiar happens and James finds himself on the most wonderful and extraordinary journey he could ever imagine …

James and the Giant Peach will be fifty in 2011. First published in 1961 it has become one of the most loved of Roald Dahl’s stories, appealing to readers of all ages. Dahl was a master of language and of making up words. His stories are full of fabulous visual twists and turns.

Students are invited to design a whole new cover look for this iconic title, reinventing it for a new generation of readers, encouraging children (and adults) to revisit it and ensuring that it remains an integral part of childhood for the next fifty years.

What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market of both children (to pick up and buy for themselves) and adults (to buy for children). While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover needs to be able to work on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting.

The book cover must:

1. - Be competently executed with strong use of typography.

2. - Appeal to the broadest possible audience for the book.

3. - Show a good understanding of the marketplace.

4. - Have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against.

5. - Be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket as easily as it sits on those of more upmarket bookshops such as Waterstone’s.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine 12mm wide).

Competition Deadline :

1. DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES
The closing date for entries is 5 p.m. on Friday 15 April 2011.
This site will accept entries from Monday 17 January 2011.

Illustrative Practises deadline: 11 March 2011

The deadline for this competition is after the deadline for the illustrative practises module. Although there is a reasonable amount of development and experimentation which would be needed, the workload is not so much that I feel it would be impossible to complete before the illustrative practises module deadline (a near perfect rough sample of the book cover could be handed in for the deadline rather than the final digital sample).

4. SUBMISSIONS


All entries must be submitted digitally via an online link which will be made available on this site from Monday 17 January 2011.
Entries must supplied in the following format:

• PDF
• 300ppi
• CMYK
• 5mm bleed
• Ideally colour managed to ISO Coated 39 or ISO Uncoated 29 (optional)
• Trim and crop marks to be included

Hard-copy entries will not be accepted.

Who judges the competition?

Francesca Dow – Managing Director, Puffin Books

Anna Bilson - Puffin Art director

Guest judges -

Meg Rosoff - Children's book author (Winner of Guardian Children's fiction prize)

Felicity Dahl - Wife of Roadl Dahl and chairwoman of Roadl Dahl foundation.

The judging panel seems to follow a similar format to the panel judging the macmillan children's book prize - there are two guest judges and two judges who are part of the publishing company holding the competition.

Reading the brief and considering the judges, it is obivious that an entry into this competition would need a lot of careful consideration, but that again it is a good opportunity to get work exposed to those within the publishing industry.

The prizes -

1st Prize

The winner of the Puffin Children’s Prize will be invited to spend four weeks at Puffin in the design studio on a work placement, working with Puffin Art Director Anna Billson on live briefs. The winner will also receive a cash prize of £1,000.

2nd Prize

The winner of the 2nd Prize will receive a £350 cash prize.

3rd Prize

The winner of the 3rd Prize will receive a £250 cash prize.

All the shortlisted entrants will be invited to an award ceremony where the winners will be announced, and at which an exhibition of all the shortlisted designs will be on display.
The prizes for this competition involve both money and the prestige and exposure of winning or being part of the entries shortlisted. As all short listed entries are exhibited, even if work did not come first, second or third (and no money was won) you would still have the prestige of having work on show, and exposure to people who work within the creative industry. Having work exhibited could potentially be a way to begin networking with other illustrators / publishing companies / art directors.
The first prize sounds amazing! Being able to work on a four week work placement at the puffin design studios would be a great opportunity (if not a little daunting) to build contacts and start establishing yourself as an illustrator. - This experience overshadows the cash prize, which would obiviously be nice to win too.

This does sound like quite an appealing competition to enter - I think if I were to enter this competition then the place to start would be to research both previous winners of the puffin children's prize as well as current james and the giant peach book covers. This way I may gain some insight as to what style of illustration / design appeals to the judges of the competition.