We’re very pleased to announce that Illo illustrator Ana Salopek has won an Award for the joyful “Ferdinand Cheval“, commissioned by Benchmark. Ferdinand Cheval: The Postman Who Delivered a Palace, Illustrated by Ana Salopek and written by Anne Renaud has received a Gold Standard Junior Library Guild award, and we must add that we feel this is truly deserved being such a beautiful, unique creation!
Thanks to Todd Kancar and Billy Ray at Benchmark for the commission, this book was published in 2022 by their imprint Reycraft.
Junior Library Guild is described as the subscription box solution for the modern librarian: JLG titles are curated by their renowned editorial team who read and review thousands of manuscript submissions each year (prior to publication) to choose the best, award-worthy books for their members.
With nearly 95% of their selections going on to win awards, honours, starred reviews, and industry accolades, you can trust JLG to bring top-quality, engaging books to your library.
You can get yourself a copy here.
The ITSme Society is a collective of top creative agencies that represent award-winning talent worldwide. The ITSme Society agencies represent illustrators and writers across 7 agencies: Advocate Art, Astound US Inc, Illo Agency, Artistique, Yeon, CWLA, and Collaborate.
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