Penguin Random House announce winners of the 2018 design award

Penguin Random House announced three winners of their prestigious design awards 2018.

The adult fiction cover award was won by Raemarie Lee, Kingston University (Animal Farm by George Orwell), the winner of the Adult Non Fiction Cover award was  Harry Woodgate, University of Hertfordshire (A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking) and the Children’s Cover Award was won by Fruzsina Czech, Ulster University (Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman).

Winner of the adult fiction cover award Raemarie said of her Animal Farm cover, “This minimalist, flat design references the book without overtly showing the image of a pig or communist elements. I employed basic shapes to create a symbol which, in the context of Animal Farm, is clearly recognisable as a reference to the story’s central characters. The ‘snout’ is set against a sombre, stone-like texture that calls to mind the brutalist style often associated with communist architecture.”
 
Harry Woodgate, winner of the adult non-fiction cover award, said “I took inspiration from different theories, including colour shift, multiple dimensions and the expanding universe, and tried to communicate these purely through colour and type – there was something almost poetic to me about using those fundamental building blocks of design to illustrate a subject which explores, essentially, the building blocks of the universe.”

Speaking on the children’s cover award, Fruzsina Czech said, “Monochrome colour was chosen to show the contrasted personalities, alongside adding sophistication to the look.” While author Malorie Blackman called it “incredibly eye-catching and simple but not simplistic”.

The winners were selected from a shortlist of 30 designs (10 in each category) by three judging panels consisting of Art Directors from across Penguin Random House UK as well as guest judges from the design and publishing industry, including Malorie Blackman, Anthony Burrill, Grace Winteringham, Orlando Weeks, Indi Davies and Tom Sanderson. They were chosen from 2,100 submissions.

All three winners will receive a work placement at the Penguin Random House UK design studios, as well as a £1,000 cash prize.