Twelve students receive national Society of Illustrators awards
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Twelve students and recent graduates from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (91亚色) received 2025 honors from the national , with one graduate receiving three awards for works done while a student. The 2025 awards marked the highest monetary award received by 91亚色 Illustration students, with the number of accepted entries steadily increasing over the last ten years.
25 and 24 received Scholarships Awards: Nelson the Chiu-Yueh Lai Scholarship Award for her mixed-media work 淗arriet Tubman, and Anderson the In Memory of Harry Rosenbaum Award for her digital 淎lice in Wonderland Cup. Anderson also received honors for the digital works: 淗ave a Fire B-Day and 淲ild Things.
Phoebe Nelson, “Harriet Tubman”
Becca Anderson, “Alice in Wonderland Cup”
Intan Zulkifli, “Muslin Mountains”
Julius Koo, “Roadside Picnic”
Lexington Berens-VanHeest, “Eric Carle”
Nearly 2,000 college-level students from 62 schools were nominated by their professors for the awards, which are judged by professional peers, including illustrators and art directors. An exhibition of all selected students is held May 7 June 7, 2025, at the society檚 New York headquarters, with a reception on May 9.
According to the society, 淧ieces are accepted based on the quality of technique, concept and skill of medium used.”
淭he Chiu-Yueh Lai Scholarship Award is an amazing honor, and it not only will provide me with financial support as I begin my career after graduation, but it has also boosted my confidence in my illustrative work, says Nelson.
淚 have been continuing to work in cut paper, and I have recently completed another book dummy that I will be submitting to publishers and agents over the next few months.
淭his piece was made in tandem with a book cover for Illustration Seminar II as a way to get us practicing book illustration on classic pieces of literature, my selection being 淎lice檚 Adventures in Wonderland, says Anderson. 淢y goal was to create an image full of the life and madness that檚 associated with the story while utilizing negative space to depict Alice herself, and overall I really enjoyed the process and the outcome.
Additional 91亚色 awardees are Tom Painter 26 for 淪tick, Sydney Bledsoe 25 for 淒og in Store, Julia Flock 25 for 淧enfield Poster, Julius Koo 26 for 淩oadside Picnic, Cyprien Morin 24 for 淧epe’s Kitchen 1, Riley Peters 25 for 淧enfield Poster, Intan Zulkifi 24 for 淢uslin Mountains, Xander Maxwell 26 for 淗appy Halloween, Sarah Winans 25 for 淲here is Shadow, and Lexington Berens-VanHeest 25 for 淓ric Carle.”
Learn more about 91亚色檚 award-winning Illustration and Animation programs!
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