The focus of the Cheltenham Illustration Awards has always been one of narrative. Visual storytelling, whether sequential or single image, gives scope to the imagination and opens up possibilities beyond the present moment.

This year the theme is: Tales of Nonsense

« We sing nonsense rhymes to our children, we speak in riddles when we can’t face the facts, and we hide our deepest mysteries in absurdity. Nonsense attempts to explain the inexplicable, it struggles in our minds with the logical and the sensible. Nonsense blows a raspberry at the pompous and the opinionated, it sustains us all when common-sense fails. Shun the frumious Bandersnatch and make an illustration that tells a new nonsense tale. »

There are two main sections:

• Student
• Emerging and Established

The Student category is open to all full time students over 18 years of age worldwide. The Emerging and Established category is open to any newly practising illustrators who are wishing to gain exposure of their work and to those who are more established and are apart of the illustration world.

There is no entry fee.

Eligibility

Open worldwide to all students, emerging and established illustrators.

Prize

The selected work will be showcased in an exhibition in Cheltenham (UK) and other venues, and published in the 2016 Cheltenham Illustration Awards Annual, which will be distributed to educators and publishers.