Annual 21 Judges Announced

We are pleased to announce the jury for our 21st Annual 3x3 International Illustration Awards Show. As always we select leading industry leaders for our panel. This year they include:

Michael Mrak, Creative Director, Scientific American
Rachel Vale, Art Director, Pan Macmillan Publishers, United Kingdom
Andy Omel, Design Director, The New Republic
Zak Bickel, Art Director, The New York Times
Kelly McMurray, Creative Director, 2communiqué
Catarina Sobral, Illustrator, Portugal
Kirsten Ulve, Illustrator
Francesco Zorzi, Illustrator, Italy
Tatsuro Kiuchi, Illustrator, Japan

Both Michael and Andy are well noted for their use of illustration for covers and interiors, Kelly always engages illustrators working on the many alumni publications her firm is responsible for and of course Zak's interest in editorial illustration is no exception.

Rachel is responsible for children's fiction, non-fiction and poetry for ages 6 and up. Children's fiction is also the playground for Catarina's illustrations where her playful illustrations have appeared in thirteen books—ten of them she's written. In addition, her variety of animation work has received high praise from international juries. Tatsuro's first children's book, The Lotus Seed has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide, he's also working in editorial and advertising as well as teaching at Illustration Aoyama Juku in Tokyo. Francesco brings his previous background in graphic design to nearly all his illustration commissions for a host of international clients and is an educator in Italy as well as guest faculty member at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. His work has been featured in Steve Heller's Free Hand, New Typography Sketchbooks and The Illustration Idea Book: Inspiration from 50 Masters. You'll find Kirsten's work showing up in fashion, beauty and lifestyle commissions for her myriad international clients and like all our illustrators her work has received wide praise including Taschen's 100 Illustrators and her souvenir silk scarf was on the shelf at New York's Guggenheim Museum.

We are looking forward to having our judges look at this year's entries. Entry deadline is March 29, 2024.