Unsolicited pastry store ad celebrated by World Illustration Awards

The Worlds Illustration Awards, which showcases the best in show across fields like editorial, animation and advertising, has unveiled its 2024 winners. One of the category winners – New Talent Advertising – is Atlanta-based Zhang Jiayi, who was recognised for an entirely uncommissioned project made for his hometown pastry shop, Master Bao’s.

“The first reason I created this series is that Master Bao’s Pastry has been one of the most beloved pastry shops in my hometown since I was a child, evoking fond childhood memories for me.” With Zhang keen to focus on commercial illustration in his creative career, he produced these illustrations to attract customers and enhance the brand’s visibility, with the hope of producing a series of commercial pieces to help the shop.

Zhang Jiayi was just one of 20 Category Winners this year. Overall, an independent jury also crowned 20 Highly Commended projects, four Cross Category Award Winners, and two overall winners: Kayla Salim and Mark Smith.

“Dark and moody” was how Mark Smith’s work was described by Daniel Cobb, judge for the Advertising category. Mark’s submission focused on Dennis Day, an original member of Disney’s breakout television show, The Mickey Mouse Club, who went missing in 2018. The original editorial commission was executed for a feature in Alta Journal. Mark was awarded overall Professional Winner.

“This is an amazing execution that brings a dark and moody undertone to the world of Disney that’s typically so overly positive and unblemished,” said Daniel. “The illustrator’s understanding and skill with depth and natural light is next-level; there’s a sense of photo-realism at first glance that’s quite captivating, and I love the use of colour throughout the entire collection.”

Kayla Salim was awarded overall New Talent winner with an illustrated publication in response to a university brief. Her illustrated narrative focuses on the traditions of Ama divers dating back to 2000 years ago. Ama, which translates to “women of the ocean” refers to the Japanese free divers that descend 30 ft without oxygen tanks to search for seafood and pearls. Jenny Grigg, senior lecturer of communication design at RMIT University Melbourne says: “This is very sophisticated work for a student. Thoughtfully resolved and designed to a professional standard, including use of scale variation (dynamic change) across single pages, covers and double page spreads, with an inventive use of two colours.”

There were nearly 5,500 entries from 75 countries for the 2024 Awards. “This year’s entrants displayed remarkable creativity and skill across the board. Our 2024 winners truly excel in their fields, illustrating complex narratives and ideas through their work,” AOI CEO Rachel Hill says. In particular, the CEO said that “the importance of illustration in our everyday lives, in books, news, packaging, murals, and more,” was highlighted by this year’s lineup.