Two Herts uni students up for £1,000 design award
Louise Baskerville's shortlisted book cover for Penguin Random House Student Design Children’s Cover category. Picture: Penguin Random House - Credit: Archant
Penguin Random House has shortlisted two students from the University of Hertfordshire for a book cover design award.
Louise Baskerville. Picture: Penguin Random House - Credit: Archant
From the 2,310 submissions to the publisher, Louise Baskerville and Sancia Rose were chosen - along with eight others - in the Children's Cover Award category.
If they win, Louise or Sancia would recieve a £1,000 cash prize and a work placement at Penguin Random House.
To get that top prize, the two students had to redesign the cover of global bestseller 'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio in an original and unforgettable way that could appeal to new readers.
"The book explores a sensitive topic, and challenges the reader to think about their unconscious bias," said Louise, who is in her fourth year studying illustration at the Hatfield-based university.
Sancia Rose. Picture: Penguin Random House - Credit: Archant
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"Cover design allows for experimentation with images and typography; it requires precision, background knowledge and attention to detail - everything I love about design."
Sancia, in her third of an illustration degree, approached the redesign by keeping in mind people do judge books by their covers.
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"It's the first thing that draws you in when you're browsing for books and practising such a skill is so useful," she said.
"I also think that any sort of exercise that encourages creativity and reading is wonderful and it's a good reminder how important print media and physical books still are today."
Sancia was shortlisted in the the Childrens Cover Award category. Penguin Random House. - Credit: Archant
The University of Hertfordshire has had success before with Harry Woodgate - in his second year of illustration - taking home the grand prize last year for his redesign of 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking in the non-fiction category.
Stephen Young, also at Hertfordshire, came third in the same category.
Art directors, from Penguin Random House, have already provided final comment on the designs to Louise, Sancia and the other shortlisters.
Then, after readjusment of the covers, winners in each of the three categories - Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction and Children's - will be announced on Wednesday, June 19.
To find out more about the competition visit penguin.co.uk/company/work-with-us/student-design-award/student-design-award-2019.html
