Student success

Every year, our students and graduates earn great acclaim and prestigious accolades for their work at local, national and international level.

YCN Student Awards
Dom receives his award

Graduating BA (Hons) Illustration students Anna Betts and Dominic McKenzie were recognised as outstanding winners in this year's YCN Student Awards, with Dominic going on to scoop the 'Student of the Year' award. This hugely important national competition, organised by illustration and animation agency YCN, involves live briefs from a variety of household name clients, including 20th Century Fox, Sega and Marks & Spencer.

Student Awards

Macmillan Prize for Children's Picture Book Illustration
Cambridge School of Art students have an outstanding history of success in the Macmillan Prize for Children's Picture Book Illustration. In 2011 our MA Children's Book Illustration students took the 1st Prize of £1000, 2nd prize of £500 and five of the thirteen Highly Commended awards. After Mike Smith's 1st prize win in 2010 with his book Edward Hopper and the Carrot Crunch, Gemma Merino's The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water took the award in 2011 with Elys Dolan's Weasels taking 2nd prize.

Young Interior Designer of the Year Award
Amongst the first cohort of Interior Design students to graduate in 2011 was Georgiana Dobrican, who was shortlisted for the Young Interior Designer of the Year Award. This national competition is for graduating interior design students and aims to showcase their talents to the wider industry. The winning entry receives a £10,000 cash prize and the opportunity to take a six-month paid internship.

RSA Student Design Award
Jennifer Allenby, BA (Hons) Graphic Design, won the 2011 RSA Student Design Award, and a cheque for £1000, for her series of postage stamps inspired by leading British fashion designers - and a pot of tea!

Cambridge School of Art also offers its own annual student prizes. Details can be found on our competitions page.

Two years after graduating with a BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Matt Power's contribution to a handheld version of the game LittleBigPlanet helped win his team at SCE Cambridge Studio (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) a BAFTA. The studio was delighted to be nominated in two categories 'Best Handheld' and 'Use of Online', going on to win in the former category. As the sole Graphic Designer working on LittleBigPlanet, Matt was responsible for designing everything from icons for menus, small pieces of motion graphics, the logo and packfront - right down to the little stickers that are used throughout the game.

Alumni Success

Cambridge School of Art has produced some outstanding graduates over the years, including Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett, Spitting Image Creators Peter Fluck and Roger Law, and the illustrator Ronald Searle, creator of St Trinian's. Many more of our graduates go on to find great success within their chosen field.

Graduate Rod Hunt illustrated the hugely popular Where's Stig? for the BBC Top Gear production team, which enjoyed chart-topping success - including a listing as Book of the Week in Bookseller magazine, a No.1 slot in The Sunday Times bestsellers list, and No. 6 in the overall UK chart. Rod graduated from the BA (Hons) Illustration before setting up his own business with support from The Prince's Trust, his local Training and Enterprise Board, and the Association of Illustrators. He has worked as a full-time illustrator ever since and is current Chairman of the Association of Illustrators.

David Doyle was selected by the Royal Mail to design a stamp as part of its series to celebrate the 2012 Olympic Games. David, who completed his MA in Children's Book Illustration in 2007, was handpicked from amongst a wide range of artists on the books of illustration agency The Artworks to design a stamp for the Paralympics.

Nicola Killen, who graduated from our MA Children's Book Illustration course in 2009, featured in The Guardian's 2011 'Books of the Year' round-up. Her storybook Fluff and Billy (Egmont) was described by reviewer Julia Donaldson as having "...beautiful illustrations and a satisfying patterned text." Nicola previously won an Egmont Publishing Award for Not Me, produced as part of her diploma project.

 
Illustration graduate Jana Diemberger, and her daughter Lucy, with artwork from her book 'Monacello the Little Monk'

Illustration graduate Jana Diemberger, and her daughter Lucy, with artwork from her book 'Monacello the Little Monk'



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