2019 Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition 50 finalists' release

After half a decade of existence, the 2019 Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrator Competition has generated an unprecedented level of enthusiasm, as 1,999 illustrators from 72 countries and territories entered their works in the competition.

All in all, it has been nearly 10,000 pieces of illustration that the five members of the 2019 Golden Pinwheel jury—Ivan Canu (Italy), André Letria (Portugal), Kiyoko Matsuoka (Japan), Yang Zhong (China), Zhou Xiang (China)— had to review throughout the summer. After three rounds and five weeks of intense work, they identified the 50 most creative and attractive series to be included in the 2019 Finalists selection, which we are happy to announce below.

The 50 finalists’ illustration series will be exhibited in a special Golden Pinwheel Exhibition taking place at the next China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair from 15 to 17 November. In addition, their works will be featured in the 2019 Golden Pinwheel Illustration Yearbook.

金风车插画年鉴

The 50 finalists come from more than 20 countries and territories. 2019 Finalists Selection (in alphabetical order):

Name Country/Territory
Ximo Abadia Spain
Somin Ahn Korea
An Zhe Taiwan, China
Anna Aparicio Català Spain
Monica Barengo Italy
Dale Blankenaar South Africa
Beatrice Cerocchi Italy
Rômolo Eduardo D'Hipólito Brazil
Stefano Di Cristofaro Venezuela
Anna Fadeeva Russia
Philip Giordano Italy
Gua Jila China
Gui Tuzi China
Emily Haworth-Booth UK
He Xianrui China
Gosia Herba Poland
Parvin Heydarizadeh Iran
Guilherme Karsten Brazil
Puck Koper Netherlands
Kin-Choi Lam Hong Kong, China
Taltal Levi Israel
Li Jingxin China
Liang Linghui China
Lu Lili China
Eva Mastrogiulio Argentina
Laura Merz Finland
Paweł Mildner Poland
Daniel Montero Galán Spain
Veronica Neacsu Rumania
Miguel Pang Ly Spain
Marta Pantaleo Italy
Sabrina Pérez Uruguay
Tania Rex Lithuania
Zack Rock USA
Veronica Ruffato Italy
Felicita Sala Italy
Eva Sánchez Gómez Spain
Dani Scharf Uruguay
Marco Somà Italy
Vanina Starkoff Argentina
Maria Titova Russia
Vendi Vernić Croatia
Maria Vyshinskaya Russia
Martina Walther Switzerland
Wang Ning China
Wu Feifei China
Wu Peng China
Xu Yu China
Zhao Niaor China
Zane Zlemeša Latvia

On 14 November, the Jury as a whole will hold a last round of meetings in Shanghai in order  to determine the winners of the Golden Pinwheel special awards among the 50 finalists: one Grand Award (China), one Grand Award (International) and three Special Mentions. The results of their selection will be announced one day later, on the opening day of CCBF.

But before that, on 08 November, all the finalists’ artworks will be released on the Golden Pinwheel official website and submitted to a popularvote open to everyone in order to determine the winner of the People’s Choice Award. All CCBF visitors and CCBF will also be able to vote onsite at the exhibition. The chosen candidate will be announced on 17 November. 

Finally, one of the abovementioned winners (Grand Awards, Special Mentions, People’s Choice Award) will be chosen to become the illustrator of CCBF’s visual identity in 2020. The visual identity will be integrated into the design of the fair’s website, social media, prints, gifts, media ads and outdoor advertising.