The competition was administered by illuSalon, an international online platform dedicated to the topic of illustration. The category presentations were accompanied by musical acts and dance performances. The Global Illustration Awards are intended to promote illustrations, while also creating a platform for the content industry.

Jacques Maes and Lise Braekers, the winners of the “Cover Illustration” category, were very happy with the creation of the new awards, saying “It’s a great opportunity for illustrators. It’s not an easy profession. There’s a lot of work involved and it’s difficult to find an audience, an agent or a publisher. The Global Illustration Award and illuSalon offer the chance to find future customers – or just to get noticed.” The Belgian duo, Maes and Braekers, have worked together for five years. They received the award for their cover illustration of the entirely pictorial children’s book “Oskar”.

The award ceremony took place on THE ARTS+ Runway in Hall 4.1. THE ARTS+ is being held this year for the first time. Three winners were announced in each category of the Global Illustration Award: two Excellence Award winners and one Gold Award winner. Here are the winners of each category, at a glance:

Cover Illustration

Excellence Award winners: Jui-Che Wu (Taipai, China) and Britta Teckentrup (Germany)

Gold Award winner: Jacques Maes and Lise Braekers (Belgium)

Scientific Illustration

Excellence Award winners: Jonas Lauströer (Germany) and Annabelle Buxton (France)

Gold Award winner: Kunal Kundu (India)

Children’s Book Illustration

Excellence Award winners: Katharina Grossmann-Hensel (Germany) and JooHee Yoon (USA)

Gold Award winner: Tobias Krejtschi (Germany)

Editorial Illustration

Excellence Award winners: Caroline Gamon (France) and Xuan Zhang (China)

Gold Award winner: Véronique Joffer (France)

Theme Illustration

Excellence Award winners: Pascale Moutte-Baur (Belgium) and Mareike Engelke (Germany)

Gold Award winner: Tobias Krejtschi (Germany)