The Winner/runners-up Of Folio Book Illustration Award 2023, Selected by Ursula K. Le Guin’s son, Are Unveiled

Celebrating The Best In Illustration Again

The Folio Society, publisher of beautifully produced illustrated books, has announced Cristina Bencina as the winner of the Folio Book Illustration Award 2023 (FBIA). This is the second edition of the annual free-to-enter competition, launched in 2022 to mark The Folio Society’s 75th anniversary. Open to illustrators, student or professional, who have not previously been commissioned by The Folio Society, the FBIA aims to find, platform and support new illustration talent from around the world.

The runners-up and winner have been selected by a judging panel of five:

• Theo Downes-Le Guin, Ursula K. Le Guin’s son and literary executor, joining the panel to judge the illustrations of his late mother’s story

• Evangeline Gallagher, illustrator and winner of the inaugural Folio Book Illustration Award 2022

• Tom Walker, The Folio Society Publishing Director

• Sheri Gee, The Folio Society Art Director

• Raquel Leis Allion, The Folio Society Art Director

This year, the full longlist of 20 is exhibiting at the Bradford Literature Festival from 23 June – 2 July.

This year, over 730 illustrators from 58 countries entered the competition, which asked entrants to illustrate a single scene of their choice from Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Fliers of Gy. A judging panel of five, including last year’s FBIA winner Evangeline Gallagher and Theo Downes-Le Guin, Ursula K. Le Guin’s son and literary executor, selected five runners-up and one winner.

Winner Cristina Bencina, an artist and illustrator based in Colorado, will receive a £2,000 cash prize, £500 worth of Folio Society books and a portfolio review with the Folio Society Art Directors. Her work was inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s description of a ritual persecuting the select few born with the ability to fly in a society of feathered people, who are thrown from a cliff and attacked with arrows: “Whether she flies or falls, all the men of the tribe, screaming with excitement, shoot at her with bow and arrow.” Intricately detailed and balanced in composition, Bencina’s illustration was selected for its imaginative depiction of the persecuted Flier.

Theo Downes-Le Guin, Trustee, Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trusts and member of the judging panel, said “My mother loved working with illustrators, she loved seeing different interpretations of her work. Cristina Bencina’s composition stood out to the entire panel for its dynamism and its original interpretation of this moment in the story. The contrast between the dark values of the illustration and that bright punctuation of fire at the top was absolutely entrancing.”

Cristina Bencia headshot

Raquel Leis Allion, Folio Art Director and FBIA judge, said of the winning submission: “Cristina Bencina’s piece is instantly eye-catching with its strong graphic imagery. The pop of colour from the flames at the top of the mountain in the dark landscape guide your eye around the image. Christina has captured the sense of falling perfectly.”

Sheri Gee, Folio Art Director and FBIA judge, said: “This illustration has incredibly delicate line work that really wowed us on close inspection, contouring across the character’s feathers; and a nice element of merging trees and arrows visually. We also loved the interesting viewpoint which immediately made it stand out.”

The judging panel also selected five runners-up who will each receive £500 worth of Folio Society books and an individual portfolio review with the Folio Society Art Directors. They are:

Tommy Barclay (UK), Merran Coleman (UK, previously longlisted in the FBIA 2022), Den Owen (UK), Nate Sweitzer (US) and Jens Maria Weber (Germany). Each of these artists presents a unique interpretation of the story’s narrative and its feathered people, the Gyr.

Speaking of the calibre of this year’s runners-up, Evangeline Gallagher, winner of the FBIA 2022, said: “It was such a difficult task to narrow down these entries from such an incredible group! I would pick up a book illustrated by any of these artists. I really loved seeing the variety of interpretations across all of the longlisted submissions. From Den Owen’s moody and fantastical vignette to Nate Sweitzer’s beautifully composed scene, each entry exhibited a really personal voice which made the judging process both super challenging and super exciting.”

Tom Walker, Folio Society Publishing Director, said: “The range of illustration styles was spectacular for the FBIA 2023: from the classical and painterly, to the energetic and informal, and all shades in between. The variety and quality of the entire shortlist showed both the depths of Le Guin’s writing, and the depth of talent in the illustration world today.”

About Cristina Bencina (she/her)

Cristina Bencina is an artist and illustrator living in Aurora, Colorado. Born on Long Island, New York, she studied illustration and received her BFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

She specialises in book illustration and her artwork has been selected and featured in various annuals and exhibitions, such as Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, American

Illustration and the Society of Illustrators.

About the judging panel

Theo Downes-Le Guin (he/him) [runners-up/winner judge]

Theo Downes-Le Guin is trustee of the Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trusts and the youngest of Ursula’s three children.

Evangeline Gallagher (they/them) [runners-up/winner judge]

Evangeline Gallagher is a freelance illustrator based in Baltimore, Maryland. They received their BFA in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2018. Evangeline was the inaugural winner of the Folio Book Illustration Award in 2022. Since winning the Folio award, they have gone on to work on illustrations for clients like Peachtree Publishing, Possum Creek Games, and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. When they aren’t drawing they’re hanging out with their dog, Charlie, or playing Dungeons and Dragons (but they’re probably drawing).

Sheri Gee (she/her) [longlist and runners-up/winner judge]

Sheri Gee is an award-winning Art Director with 25 years’ experience in book publishing and design. Shortly after graduating with a degree in Illustration, Sheri became Production Assistant at The Folio Society. She went on to learn about all aspects of fine book production and was made Art Director in 2010. Many of her commissions and art directed projects for Folio have won awards in renowned illustration and design competitions. Sheri is passionate about good drawing skills, which underpin everything that is excellent.

Raquel Leis Allion (she/her) [longlist and runners-up/winner judge]

Raquel Leis Allion is an award-winning Art Director and book designer. She has many years’ experience commissioning a diverse range of artists, illustrators and designers. After receiving a BA (Hons) in graphic arts and illustration from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, Raquel worked both in-house and freelance for Cartoon Network, Scholastic, Headline, Little, Brown and Company, Orion Publishing Group, and Penguin Random House before joining The Folio Society in 2016.

Raquel’s interests range from craft, art to film but especially books; all of which inspire her professional practice.

Tom Walker (he/him) [runners-up/winner judge]

Tom Walker has been Publishing Director at The Folio Society for seven years, working to transform an incredible heritage publisher into a joyful and desirable destination for book lovers around the world. Tom leads Folio’s publishing strategy and programme, curating a beautiful list of books and directing Folio’s world class editorial, art and production teams.

Tom loves books of all sorts, design, illustration, realising the creative potential in people and projects, and all forms of storytelling.

About The Folio Society

The Folio Society, based in London, publishes beautifully produced books – available worldwide exclusively at foliosociety.com. Proudly independent for its 75 year history, in 2021, under the leadership of its CEO, Joanna Reynolds, The Folio Society was sold to its employees and is now an Employee Owned Trust. The accessible, diverse and inclusive values of The Folio Society are reflected in its new ownership that is committed to a progressive sharing of power and profit in publishing.

The Folio Society publishes some of the best names in publishing past and present, across the globe in beautiful, high specification, collector editions. Notable publications include Frank Herbert’s Dune, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Andrew Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple among many other contemporary and classic titles including a publishing partnership with Marvel delivering the world-recognised, iconic brand’s luxury editions.

Website: www.foliosociety.com