Penguin’s Student Design Award 2020

This is my shortlisted entry to Penguin’s Student Design Award 2020 (Children’s Cover). My book cover for ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ is inspired by the imagery of the hedgerows throughout the novel. The book contains beautiful imagery depicting the characters leaping in and out of the shadows the hedges create, reflecting the periods of darkness and happiness they experience throughout the book. I was inspired to use hedgerows as a visual device to indicate the setting, show the separation between the characters and the time period with the subtle inclusion of a war plane’s shadow.

I very thankful to receive feedback on my design from Anna Billson, Art Director at Penguin Random House UK Children’s:

“We loved the way that your cover really pops. With its arresting use of colour and perfectly considered palette it really draws the eye in. The deceptive simplicity of the illustration is strong and the hedges and the shadows work really well as a device to guide you. Your design pulls out the key themes of companionship and war. It’s a very well-considered design and extremely worthy of its place on the shortlist – congratulations!”