World Illustration Awards 2025
Winners Announced!
After a fantastic Awards Night celebration, we are delighted to announce the Overall, Category and Cross-Category Winners for the World Illustration Awards 2025!
“This year’s entries highlight the power of illustration to help us explore and understand the world around us. Artists tackled themes like human connection, the celebration of diversity and inclusion, and the growing impact of AI on our daily lives.
Illustration is everywhere, in books, journalism, packaging, murals, it shapes how we see and understand each other. I’m proud to recognise the outstanding talent on display this year, and to celebrate artists who help us see things in new ways.
Congratulations to all this year’s winners, and to everyone who submitted their work. The creativity and skill within the global illustration community make this award programme truly exceptional.”
~ Rachel Hill — CEO, The Association of Illustrators
New Talent Overall Winner: Léane Ruggli
“Ready to Drink Cocktail Cans”
Léane wins a cash prize of £1000 as well as a copy of The Directory of Illustration and 1 year free AOI Membership + Folio.
“This is very stylishly executed. The retro-vibe still manages to be fresh and communicates very effective, [and] perfect for a cocktail brand. The limited animation is surprisingly cinematic”
~ David Plunkert — Design Product & Packaging Category Judge
Professional Overall Winner: Chu-Chieh Lee
“Minus Plus Multiply”
Chu-Chieh receives a cash prize of £2000 as well as a 2 page marketing packaging in the Directory of Illustration, valued at $2,700 US Dollars, including a 100 image professional portfolio on directoryofillustration.com.
“Wonderful combination of 2D and 3D. Great story telling in terms of conveying personal feelings. Illustrations style is simple yet artful. Music and SFX is done exceedingly well to convey a sense of drama. “
~ Marcelle Versteeg —Animation Category Judge
Category Winners
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Image Credit: Lisa Sheehan — “The Ozempic Effect”
Cross-Category Winners
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In addition to our Category Winners, we can also announce the four inspiring projects selected as Winners of theCross-Category Awards (clockwise from top left): AOI Members Award Directory of Illustration (DI) Award XPPen Digital Innovation Award SAA Agents Awards for New Talent |
Highly Commended
Highly Commended
Alongside our winners we are also delighted to announce the following projects
were highly commended for each category:
New Talent
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Professional
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All the category winners, cross category winners and highly commended projects are announced on the AOI website.
The WIA2025 Winner Showcase is also live on the AOI website, including interviews, judges reflections and more, so why not check out some of the great illustration from across the globe by New Talent and Professional Illustrators in the 10 Categories!
World Illustration Awards Showcase 2025
About The World Illustration Awards
Delivered by the AOI in partnership with the Directory of Illustration since 2015, the World Illustration Awards build on a 47-year tradition of the AOI organizing juried survey competitions.
The World Illustration Awards showcase great work being made by illustrators all over the world today. WIA focuses on supporting and celebrating creativity, connecting illustrators to their peers and the industry.
Being part of WIA offers a host of benefits to illustrators, such as increased visibility, opportunities for self- promotion, and the chance to network. WIA also gives many illustrators an international platform to reach new clients and commissions.
World Illustration Awards are a year-round celebration of the power and diversity of illustration being made today. Selected entries are shared on the popular @worldillustrationawards Instagram. This is followed by the announcement in May of 500 longlisted projects, and then the release of the 200 shortlisted projects which will feature in an Online Showcase on the AOI’s website launching in July.
A highlight of the Awards year is the excitement of the winners announcement in September. One New Talent and one Professional Overall winner will be awarded cash prizes and profiled on the AOI website.
This globally-recognised competion has ten industry-relevant categories and is judged by distinguished professionals from the global illustration industry. Commissioners value the Awards for identifying current trends and finding established and undiscovered talent, and illustrators value the connection and sense of community participating brings. The awards assemble an array of creativity and innovation, highlighting diverse approaches to illustration and offering an insight into current practice.
Illustrators, (working individually or as collectives), commissioners, agents and tutors were invited to submit work created, commissioned or published since 1 January 2022, until the deadline in February 2023 into the ten categories of the Awards.
The World Illustration Awards 2025 are sponsored by:
