The Biennale of Illustration presented this year's awards in the world of domestic illustration. Four artists were awarded in both categories: Katrin Eftimova-Erol took the award for a realized work with her illustrations for the book "Upupa Uturkuli", Sabin Boykinov - for his author's drawings was awarded in the category "Unrealized Works", diplomas were received by Antonina Georgieva for the book "Salt", and Gergana Evlogieva - for an unrealized project. The decision was made by a jury consisting of Milena Radeva, organizer of the event, and Hristina Grozdanova (curator at RIM-Sofia), Nikoleta Gologanova (curator at the Sofia Art Gallery), Pirina Vodenicharova (publisher) and Grigor Grigorov (artist and teacher), the award ceremony took place during the official opening on November 26, 2024.
This year, 284 Bulgarian and foreign artists from Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Sweden and other countries participated in the biennial with a total of 759 works. Over 400 of them are available to the general public until the end of January 2025 at the Regional History Museum — Sofia, “Triangular Tower of Serdica” hall.
“Among the most distinct trends this year is the growth of participants with unrealized works, as for the first time their applications exceeded the number of realized projects. There are also more and more students who use the biennial to declare their talent. We also notice the huge influence of technology in our sector, given that over half of the works are created with digital tools,” commented Milena Radeva.
Biennale of Illustration 2024 – Award-Winning Participants
In addition to digital works, visitors to the exhibition can also enjoy classic illustrations, as well as curious photo collages and plastic solutions. The main themes remain children's books and interpretations of literary works for students.
"This year's Biennale once again brings together artists from different generations who explore the world and our fragile connection with it through different media. Over time, we observe more and more courage both in terms of the means used and in terms of the themes. A different point of view is gaining more and more importance," added Milena Radeva.
We thank all 284 artists who submitted their works this year and personally brought and sent their selected works. We appreciate what you have done to make the Biennale of Illustration exist, because the Biennale is you!
We also want to thank this year's team led by Milena Radeva, Hristina Grozdanova, who also this year (we hope next year) helped our successful partnership with the Regional History Museum - Sofia, Viktor Alexandrov created the Biennial website and the form for you to apply, Nikoleta Gologanova, who was the first person to believe in the Biennial back in 2017, Elena Pavlova, who compiled the catalog. The diplomas are the work of Kristiyan Terziev, and the awards were produced by Gravoprint. The catalog was printed by our friends from Artgraf. Iliya Petrov and Katya Khaltakova were invaluable help during the sorting. We also want to thank the jury, who this year had the difficult task of reviewing 759 works. Photos and memorable shots are the work of Mirela Pavlova. For the media campaign and coverage, we once again worked in partnership with ArunaPR, and localfonts.eu provided us with the Opal font, which is a key part of the Biennale’s vision. This year, the “Biennale of Illustration” was also realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.
You can order catalogs in our online store – https://shop.bulgarian-illustration.com/
We will be waiting for you again in 2026!
Photos: Mirela Pavlova
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