Falmouth, Northampton and UAL win PRH Student Design Awards

Penguin Random House UK has revealed the nine winners of the 2019 Student Design Award following a record-breaking number of 2,313 entries featuring students from Falmouth University, University of Northampton and University of the Arts London (UAL) among others.

The winners were announced at a prize-giving ceremony at the publisher’s office in central London on Wednesday evening (19th June) in the award’s 13th year.

The prize aims to find the next generation of book cover designers by giving students the opportunity to experience real cover design briefs first-hand by reinterpreting iconic book covers from PRH across the award’s three categories: adult fiction, adult non-fiction and children’s. The winning designs were chosen from a record number of 2,313 submissions.

The adult fiction category, which featured a reimagining of Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, went to Bethany Rush of Falmouth University. Fellow Falmouth student Josie Staveley-Taylor took second place while Louis Gabaldoni, of Norwich University of the Arts, came third.

Meanwhile University of Northampton student Toby Clarke took the first prize for the adult non-fiction cover award (inspired by Owen Jones’ The Establishment) while second place went to Lewis Bowness of Nottingham Trent University. Third place went to Samuel Ayres of Solent University.

The children’s cover award included a fresh take on Wonder by RJ Palacio with the top spot going to Sian McKeever, UAL, followed by two Arts University Bournemouth students, Sam Prentice and Beatrice Simpkiss, taking second and third places respectively.

All three winners will receive a work placement within the PRH UK design studios, as well as a £1,000 cash prize. Those in second place will receive a £500 cash prize, whilst those in first place will receive a £350 cash prize.

The winners were selected from a shortlist of 30 designs (10 in each category) by three judging panels; consisting of art directors from across PRH as well as guest judges from the design and publishing industry, including illustrator Noma Bar, artist Seb Lester, The Fox and the Star author Coralie Bickford-Smith, graphic designer Jamie Keenan along with illustrators Laura Ellen Anderson, and Jan Bielecki.

Jim Stoddart, art director for Penguin Press, said: “The winning designs stood apart for their unique and original interpretation of the brief, whilst perfectly capturing the themes and narrative of each book. They were all united in bringing to life simple yet hugely powerful concepts, with bold style and impeccable execution. Congratulations to Bethany, Toby and Sian for all their hard work and incredible vision.”