Vannysha Chang wins Sebastian Walker Award for Illustration

Vannysha Chang has won the Sebastian Walker Award for Illustration, which is run by Walker Books in collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge School of Art MA in Children’s Book Illustration.

The winner was presented at a private viewing of the course exhibition held at the Copeland Gallery in Peckham, London.

The award was created to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Sebastian Walker, the founder of Walker Books, and is presented to the "most promising" graduate of the programme. It provides new graduates with exposure to help them launch their careers, and gives them the opportunity to have their portfolio considered by Walker for a picture book.

This year’s award was judged by the publisher’s picture-book team, headed up by Ben Norland and Deirdre McDermott.

McDermott said: "Vannysha is the clear and unanimous winner of the Sebastian Walker Award for Illustration 2025. Her painterly picture-book imagery has a very unique and original vision as well as her keen, humorous observation of children and their daily lives which is so friendly and happy. We all admired Vannysha’s unusual colour palette and her clever compositions made her stand out among the already high standard of her peers on the Cambridge MA Course this year."

Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, president and publisher of the Walker Books Group, commented: "Sebastian Walker founded Walker Books in 1978, making books that stood out for their vibrancy, quality and charm. Our collaboration on this award with the Cambridge School of Art is a fantastic way to honour that legacy, and celebrate new and enchanting illustration talent within children’s publishing."

Diksha Pawaskar and Naomi Tipping were highly commended by this year’s judges.