« more RISD stories

Illustrators, Animators Stand Out in National Competition

07/01/2011

Armando Veve, Mysteries That Howl and Hunt

The Society of Illustrators, the leading American professional organization for illustrators, awarded five of the top prizes in its annual Student Scholarship Competition to RISD Illustration majors. Students in Film/Animation/Video also swept the Animation category in the SOI competition.

Senior JooHee Yoon 11 IL earned one of the top two prizes of $5,000 for her mixed media piece Elephant. Collectively, the five RISD winners – Yoon, Dadu Shin 10 IL, Armando Veve 11 IL, Kevin Laughlin 11 IL and Ivy Tai 11 IL – won $13,000 out of a total of $50,000 in prize money awarded in this year’s competition.

In the Animation category,Caleb Wood 11 FAV won a $750 First Place prize for his film Little Wild, the second year in a row that he has won the top prize in this national competition. Ted Wiggin 11 FAVplaced second with his entry, Terra Firma, and Kenneth Onulak 11 FAV took third prize for Paper Dreams.

The nationwide illustration contest, held every year since 1981, is arguably the most competitive and prestigious of its kind for college-level students, and has launched the careers of many of today’s top American illustrators.

Ivy Tai, Absolut Ivy

“The New York Society of Illustrators is the original professional organization for illustrators, begun during the ‘Golden Age’ of illustration,” says Assistant Professor of Illustration Susan Doyle 81 IL/98 PT/PR. “All the big names were members – Howard Pyle, Montgomery Flagg and N.C. Wyeth, among others.” Though the organization holds two competitions each year – one in New York, the other in Los Angeles – Doyle says the former is by far the most competitive, with the most crowded field of students and the largest pool of prize money.

And only the New York show publishes an accompanying perfect-bound illustration annual of all the work selected for exhibition. “Art directors and designers subscribe to the book to find talent,” says Doyle, “so it’s a great career launching vehicle.”

RISD’s winners were among the 205 students nationwide selected from a field of 7,002 applicants. Their winning illustrations are selected by a jury – comprised of professional illustrators and art directors – that assesses overall quality based on concept, technique and skill with the medium used.

In addition to the prize winners, illustrators Ole Tillmann 11 ILand Marina Loeb 11 IL had work selected for the 2011 Student Scholarship Competition Exhibit, which was on view from May 4 through 27 at the SOI’s Museum of American Illustration in Manhattan. Additional pieces by Yoon and Tai were also selected for the show.

related links:
Society of Illustrators
SOI Student Scholarship Competition
Illustration Department
Film/Animation/Video Department