The Big Picture – Booktrust picture books campaign

The feeling that picture books were under-valued inspired Booktrust, an independent national charity in the UK that encourages people of all ages and cultures to discover and enjoy reading, to launch a campaign called The Big Picture to raise the profile of what they see as an important art form that mirrors changing society. The Big Picture’s nationwide campaign enlisted the help of art schools, teachers, libraries and literary festivals to choose ten ‘new’ picture book artists, all of whom were first published in or since the year 2000, to become the top ten illustrators in the field of Picture Book illustration today. The work of 250 artists was considered, from which a long list of 27 names was drawn up and then shortlisted to a group of ten. Anthony Browne, the creator of numerous unique picture books for children was one of the judges. The top ten “new” picture book artists chosen were Alexis Deacon for the book Beegu; Polly Dunbar for Flyaway Katie; Lisa Evans for The Flower; Emily Gravett for Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears; Mini Grey for The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon; Oliver Jeffers for Lost and Found; David Lucas for Halibut Jackson; Gwen Millward for The Bog Baby; Catherine Rayner for Augustus and his Smile; Joel Stewart for Addis Berner Bear Forgets and Vicky White for the book, Ape. All books are currently available or on order at Clare County Library branches.
http://www.bigpicture.org.uk/Home
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/Home