Two Editions from the Folio Society Shortlisted for the 2017 V&A Illustration Awards

The Folio Society is proud to announce that two artists shortlisted for this year’s V&A Illustration Awards have been nominated for their work on Folio editions. The nominations for these prestigious awards come in two different categories - Book Illustration and Book Cover. 

?? Anna and Elena Balbusso have been nominated in the Book Illustration category for their work on Folio’s stunning new gift edition of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. 

?? Joe Ciardiello’s striking binding for Brief Lives by John Aubrey has been nominated in the Book Cover category. 

The winners will be announced at an exclusive awards ceremony at the V&A on 16 May 2017. 

Sheri Gee, Art Director at The Folio Society said: ‘I’m always so delighted when our illustrators gain industry recognition for the work they do on Folio Society titles. For my part, I’m constantly in awe of our illustrators’ visual interpretations of the text. I felt that Joe Ciardiello brought such vitality to Brief Lives through his pen and ink illustrations and Anna and Elena Balbusso really embraced our challenge, conveying so much of the play and its characters within two elaborate pieces.’ 

Previous Folio illustrators honoured at the V&A Illustration Awards include: David McConochie for Best Book Cover and inaugural winner of the Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year prize in 2016 for The Folio Book of Ghost Stories; Sterling Hundley, winner of the Book Illustration Award and Overall Winner in 2015 for Treasure Island; Anne-Marie Jones, winner of the Book Cover Award for Sons and Lovers in 2014; Anna and Elena Balbusso, winners of the Book Illustration Award for Eugene Onegin in 2013; Matthew Richardson, winner of the Book Cover Award with The Outsider in 2012; and Tom Burns, winner of the Book Illustration Award and Overall Winner in 2009 for The New York Trilogy.