Directory of Illustration Artists Shortlisted In The
World Illustration Awards 2025
The Association of Illustrators (The AOI), in partnership with the Directory of Illustration, recently announced the 200 projects that have been shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards 2025!
The shortlist has been selected by the judges from over 4700 entries from 85 countries following a rigorous and competitive judging process.
The shortlisted 200 projects are included in an exciting Online Showcase curated by the AOI’s Awards Teams, with contributions from partners and judges.
The Online Shortlist Showcase is a celebration of great illustration, featuring curated category highlights, artist interviews, and new content produced by the illustrators on the shortlist. All shortlisted projects are in contention to win the awards in their categories.
On 16 September 2025, the Category Winning and Highly Commended projects in each category will be announced online in a live broadcast event. Two Overall Winners will receive cash prizes.
A few words from some of our WIA2025 Judges:
“Participating as a judge for the World Illustration Awards 2025 was a profound honour. The
exposure to such a large but massively talented pool of artists was uniquely exciting. From a
professional development perspective, it was highly educational to collaborate with other
creative professionals” – Claire Astrow – Exploration Category Judge“There was a high standard set across this year’s vibrant and engaging entries, which
applied illustration to a wide variety of surfaces and environments for diverse purposes.
While varied in scope, the selected projects were similarly highly accomplished, conceptually
strong and made great use of space” – Tristan Manco – Site Specific Category Judge“The common thread [was] digital flexibility—even traditional techniques [were] often
enhanced or finished digitally. Illustrators are leveraging technology not just for efficiency,
but to push visual boundaries” – Tim Claeys – Science & Technology Category Judge
Directory of Illustration artists made an impressive showing in the WIA Shortlist this year, with almost a dozen artists making the Shortlist! Representing nearly every category in the competition, the DI Shortlisted artists span editorial, exploration, science & technology and more.
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We are excited to feature and congratulate the Shortlisted artists:
Animation
Children’s Publishing
Book Covers
Design Product & Packaging
Exploration
Advertising
Editorial
Owen Davey
Represented by Folio Illustration Agency
Fame & Fable Teaser Trailer – Animation (Professional)
Good Wives & Warriors
Represented by Central Illustration Agency
Dinopedia – An Encyclopedia of Prehistoric Beasts
Children’s Publishing (Professional)
Maria Francesca Melis
Represented by Mendola Artists
In Cerca Di Transwonderland – Book Covers (Professional)
Daron Parton
Represented by Illustration Online
Fresh IPA – Design Product & Packaging (Professional)
Jason Raish
Represented by Central Illustration Agency
Mothra vs Godzilla – Advertising (Professional)
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All Shortlisted projects can be viewed on the AOI website and will be shared on the WIA Instagram page.
About The World Illustration Awards
The WIA are presented by The Association of Illustrators in partnership with the Directory of Illustration (USA).
There are ten award categories including Advertising, Editorial, Children’s Books, and Design, Product & Packaging. The call for entries runs from December to February in each award year.
A longlist of 500 projects, and shortlist of 200 projects are announced online. All shortlisted projects are featured in an Online Showcase, and promoted to commissioners worldwide.
Each category has a New Talent and a Professional award, with 20 Highly Commended Projects, 20 Category Winners and two Overall Winners to be announced at the online Awards Ceremony in September 2025.
In addition, four Cross-Category Awards will be announced, including the SAA Award for an unrepresented Student, The Directory of Illustration (DI) Award for an outstanding professional artist, the AOI Award for the best member entry, and the XPPen Digital Innovation Award for the most cutting edge digital project.
The AOI has been holding an annual illustration competition for over 49 years.
The World Illustration Awards 2025 are sponsored by:
