2022 SCBWI Picture Book Illustrator Awards Winners and Judges’ Report

The SCBWI Picture Book Illustrator Awards recognise the talent of PAL published Australian and New Zealand children’s illustrators, in visual narrative for picture books and graphic novels from early childhood to young adult. The Award is managed by SCBWI Australia East & New Zealand and is funded by the Copyright Agency. In addition, the SCBWI New Zealand Illustrator Award is funded by SCBWI Australia East & New Zealand.

There are three categories – Established and Emerging Illustrator Awards for Australian Illustrators plus a SCBWI New Zealand Illustrator award with prize money to assist an illustrator with the creation of a new visual narrative picture book or graphic novel.

Our stupendous judges are: Tash Besliev—Publisher, Affirm Press, Heather Curdie—Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House Clare Hallifax—Publisher, Walker Books ANZ and Kristen Nobles—Art Director, Charlesbridge Publishing. SCBWI is so excited to have such wonderful and hugely talented publishing professionals for this incredible award. So let’s get to the winners!

Judging Criteria

  1. Originality of the intended project 

  2. Creativity of the intended project

  3. Artistic and literary merit of the applicant’s body of work (assessed on grounds of stylistic and thematic achievement as demonstrated by portfolio and support material)

  4. Ability of applicant to create an excellent narrative with a significant visual component (as demonstrated by portfolio and support material) which may be textual and visual, or visual alone (wordless).

Established Illustrator Award for Australian Illustrators

First Prize: Serena Geddes

Alyssa Moon – 120pp junior graphic novel (7-10yrs)

Serena’s submission stood out for its energy, enthusiasm, thorough execution and detailed outline of how she would use the funds, including an exacting timeline showing how she planned to achieve her creative goals, extending her into this growing genre.

Her story pitch and support material were clear, fresh, vibrant and frankly hilarious, showing the energy, authenticity and humour in the characters and situations that would be perfect for this age group. The narrative successfully approaches the important but often difficult subject of bullying from the perspective of the bullies, with Serena drawing on her own personal experience which lends added authenticity to the story.

In her pitch, support material and portfolio, Serena clearly and refreshingly demonstrated her ability to successfully execute this project. Her excellent rough storyboard extract and colour page sample shows a clear thought process towards how she plans to achieve her goals, leaving plenty of room for growth and feedback through the extensive and wide-ranging proposed courses for developing illustrative and narrative skills for this proposal.

2nd Prize: Kylie Howarth

The Waffle Crab – Picture book

Kylie’s proposal and support material was thorough and well thought through. She demonstrates and energy and willingness to explore new styles and techniques in an attempt to extend her skills as an illustrator and engage today’s emerging and reluctant readers in the reading and creative elements, as well as to encourage healthy eating.

We liked Kylie’s simple modern spin on an age-old traditional story (the gingerbread man), incorporating cooking and creative activities for the reader. These are reflected in the photographic food art elements she plans to develop in collage as well as expanding on her textural techniques using everyday elements such as leaves, seaweed, feathers fingers etc – techniques that the reader can easily try themselves (could be messy!)

The variety of styles in Kylie’s portfolio shows versatility and a willingness to experiment and expand, and this book would extent Kylie into a new medium and illustrative style, in the spirit of Illustrator Award.

3rd Prize: Max Hamilton

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter – Picture book with historic focus (5-8yrs)

We were captivated by Max’s proposed historical picture book based on her research into a young girl who grew up living in lighthouses in Australia in the 1930s and 1940s. Max has already gathered a lot of valuable material around which to write a fiction narrative and proposes to use the award to further research and develop the best illustrative and narrative style for the project.

In her support material, Max showed an extensive exploration of possible illustrative directions and how various researched story elements that might be included.

Emerging Illustrator Award for Australian Illustrators

First Prize: Peter Cheong

Layla – Middle grade graphic novel
(9-12yrs)

Peter’s submission stood out for its creativity and originality and detailed outline of the narrative. Peter was clear on how he would use the funds and it was clear he has a solid foundation in understanding the audience, competition and expectations in the growing category of graphic novels.

Peter’s pitch and support material was thorough and showed a true passion for the category. The narrative successfully blends elements of fantasy and magical realism and delivers a Studio Ghibli-like sensibility which would be a fresh perspective in the Australian graphic novel market. The sample pages in the support material demonstrated Peter’s innate skill in telling a story in graphic novel form. His clever and interesting perspectives, and sparse use of dialogue and text is cinematic in parts and will be hugely engaging for a broader readership than perhaps anticipated. The rough storyboard extracts show Peter has a clear process and plan for his story with opportunity for growth and development of his craft.

In his pitch, support material and folio, Peter shows his ability to successfully adapt his illustration style across different formats, audiences and genres. The result is a body of work that is authentically Peter’s, yet gloriously accessible for different readerships. It was clear to the judging panel that he would deliver this same level of adaptability and respect for the audience to the graphic novel category.

Highly Commended: Ross Morgan

The House of Collectives – Picture book

Ross’s arresting images of animal groups interacting with abandoned human spaces make intriguing subject matter for a picture book. His presentation was thoughtful, the content multi-layered, and the approach felt unique. Ross’s portfolio is appropriately filled with surreal juxtapositions and his ability to capture the atmosphere of each setting and animal emotions will serve this project well. 

The commentary on our shared world and message of awareness for sustainability in the future are admirable. Ross proposes to use the award to further develop the storyline and final artwork.

SCBWI New Zealand Illustrator Award

First Prize: Sandra Fay

A Kind-of-Cow Kind of Story – Picture Book

Sandra clearly met the criteria, as her submission was highly original – a very unique story, well written, well thought out, and distinctive in its humour and subject matter.

Sandra’s creativity in her medium (potato prints) was also a standout, with her unusual materials creating beautiful and textured illustrations.

It is clear that Sandra has a unique and particular voice, and this is an advantage in differentiating herself in the market as an author-illustrator.


Huge congratulations to all the winners! We are so excited to see all of these projects come to life!

The SCBWI Team



SCBWI Australia East & New Zealand would like to thank
the Copyright Agency for funding this Award.




Creating Winning Picture Books… one brushstroke at a time

Celebrating the SCBWI Australian Picture Book Illustrator Awards

by Emma Quay

An afternoon dedicated entirely to illustration is always a winner in my book!

It was a privilege to share a stage with the other recipients of this brand-new prize for Australian picture book illustrators, in a celebratory get-together via Zoom. This job involves spending a huge amount of time alone, and yet it’s also very much about collaboration, communication and, therefore, other people. As illustrators, we make work with and for others, though not often in front of anyone — so it was fun to extend an invitation to join me in my little loft studio and share a glimpse into the processes I use when I’m creating the characters in my books.

The illustrations for my current picture book project are in brush and ink, and a week earlier this little girl had come out of my brush, while I was doing some morning warm-ups in my sketchbook.

ink-girl-1-emma-quay.jpg

I rather liked her, so I decided to improvise around the theme, not worrying what my pictures looked like, and with the sole aim of filling up a piece of paper. I filmed the process — speeding up the action to squash the thirteen minutes it took me down to just three — and I was surprised to discover I forgot I was being filmed at some points.


I did fill up the piece of paper… plus a little of another one, and during my presentation I talked through each drawing in turn, critiquing them and deciding out loud whether I’d choose the first character I painted, as she’s quiet, still and lost in the moment, or one whose brushstrokes are a little livelier… or fewer… or another, for the slight tilt of her head (the position we often adopt when we draw)… or one which feels nicely pared back, although possibly a little too introverted and in her own world.


I’d already decided which girl I’d have chosen, and — as is often the case — she’d emerged somewhere in the middle of the painting session, when I’d loosened up and become less self conscious, but hadn’t yet gone off the boil.

She has fewer brushstrokes than some of the other characters, and I like the way she’s leaning in the direction she’s about to paint, suggesting the moment to come. She has that loose, easy quality I’m looking for: not overworked. There’s a lot I could fix up, with Photoshop, should I choose to, whilst also making sure I keep the quirkiness and hand-drawn qualities of the brushwork.

This replicates the process I go through when I illustrate a character. I draw, draw, draw, until I feel I can’t draw any more. And then I do draw some more. Somewhere in there will be the one… hopefully! Or, with the magic of Photoshop, I could even create a composite from my favourite parts of several characters.

Obviously, I don’t usually have the luxury of the crowd of children’s book people in my studio with me, so I thought I’d make the most of it on this afternoon. I was really interested to hear which girl the audience would have chosen to go in the imaginary book, so I shared the drawings on my Instagram account, inviting people to vote for their favourite.

And the result was certainly food for thought!

Due to the fact that my process is about making lots of options, and then choosing from amongst them, I have perhaps essentially illustrated all of my books several times over… yet, interestingly, the winner of the audience vote in this instance was girl number one — the very first one I’d painted!

So now when you see a character on the page in one of my books, you’ll know there are plenty more who haven’t made the cut, and are still in the studio with me… one of which might be the one you’d have chosen! Perhaps I should invite input more often — I’ll certainly consider it.

It was lovely to collaborate with my folk musician friend Ian Barker whose acoustic guitar playing so perfectly complements the hand-made qualities of brush and ink work. Again — it’s so much about people, this seemingly solo game. Congratulations to the other showcased, shortlisted, Honour receiving and winning illustrators, to Sue Whiting for her brilliant insights from the perspective of a writer and publisher, to Susanne Gervay for being the most enthusiastic champion of every single one of us, and many thanks to the SCBWI committee, the Copyright Agency and the judges of the award, for this honour and chance to share.


  • You’ll find the Instagram post with all the girls I painted, here

  • Me adding colour to the audience’s no.1 girl, here

  • And more about my picture books at www.emmaquay.com, with insights into process on the ILLUSTRATING page