The Judging for the BSA2017 took place within the HarperCollins and The Borough Press offices, located in the News Building, London Bridge, London. It seemed apt that the office in which judging would take place would be named and branded after Agatha Christie, as the judges had a truly monumental task filtering through all the talent on display to find a winner. The volume, quality, and diversity of entries for the fourth annual Bridgeman Studio Award exceeded everyone’s expectations and surpassed the previous competition by a huge margin.
The judging began with Author Beth Lewis and Creative Director Claire Ward giving all the judges an overview of the title along with some insight into what they were looking for in the final commission.
After more than two hours a winner was chosen to be Alexandra Gurtner, a freelance illustrator and digital artist from the Black Forest, Germany. When told that she had won the Bridgeman Studio Award, Alexandra gave us the following quote,
“Entering the 2017 Bridgeman Studio Award was a great experience and I couldn’t be happier to have won the chance to work together with Beth Lewis and The Borough Press. Thank you for this amazing opportunity!”
Image: Dark Summer © Alexandra Gurtner
The judging process continued to find five Runners-Up, as each of the judges and sponsors needed to highlight an entry of their choice. Each of the following Runners-Up will receive a £50 CultureLabel gift voucher, a selection of books from The Borough Press and HarperCollins.
The BSA2017 Runners-Up are:
Anna Harley (Chosen by sponsor ACS)
Image: Stellar, © Anna Harley
Jonathan Hargreaves (Chosen by sponsor CultureLabel)
Image: Untitled © Jonathan Hargreaves
T.S. Harris (Chosen by sponsor Bridgeman Images)
Image: The Swimming Pool 48×48 © T.S.Harris
Hideyuki Sobue (Chosen by sponsor Eileen Cooper RA)
Image: Untitled © Hideyuki Sobue
Jake Gunn (Chosen by sponsor The Bookseller)
Image: Dark Summer © Jake Gunn
On behalf of everyone involved in the BSA2017, we would like to thank every artist, illustrator, and photographer who entered this year’s competition. Please keep checking back as we are looking to launch more competitions in the near future!