We are delighted to welcome talented and versatile author-illustrator Yasmeen Ismail to the blog to introduce the books she and her fellow judges chose to shortlist for this year’s Klaus Flugge Prize, and explains why the award, which highlights debut illustrators, is so important.

I am always excited to be judging anything for a variety of reasons. First up, there’s the fact that I get to have an opinion. Then there’s the excitement of knowing the winners before anyone else does; the look on the winners’ faces when they find out they’ve won; the awards ceremony; the catering… Oh my! 

The whole ritual around awards is so much fun, and it’s wonderful to be a part of it, especially one as prestigious as the Klaus Flugge Prize, because this award champions debut illustrators. There is something particularly rewarding when you are celebrating a new talent.

As a judge I looked for several things in the illustrations. I wanted to see how the illustrator handled the subject matter, how the pictures flowed and whether the images added anything to the story or lifted the story to a different level. I was, of course, also looking for illustrations that were aesthetically pleasing. I was looking for something new and fresh in the illustration style. For me it is not enough to just draw the pictures to match the story, I want to see the pictures working with the story, looking beautiful and interesting, but providing a depth of feeling, and being imaginative, playful, and relatable. 

I am always cheered when I receive books in the post and when I received this longlist it was great to see such a variety from these new illustrators. Some books were tackling very tough subject matter, others were more playful. It was heartening to see so many different styles in all the debut books. This certainly did make it trickier to judge, but there were some stand out winners whose illustrations filled all my criteria and made my heart skip to boot.

When we did sit around the table to judge together, I think we all had some favourites in mind. There were five of us on the judging panel  - last year’s winner Kate Winter, my fellow illustrator Bruce Ingman, early years expert Rachna Joshi and chair, Julia Eccleshare, and we were all, thankfully, pretty much in agreement. 

Mikey Please’s book, The Café at the Edge of the Woods, is so funny. The illustrations of the ogre and Glumfoot made me laugh out loud. There was a real atmosphere to the style of the illustrations, but most of all it was the humour in the pictures that won me over. The whole thing feels very new and original.

Emma Farraron’s illustrations for Charlie Castles’ My Hair is as Long as a River are so fresh. A real treat to see her loose style used with such imagination. I really enjoyed her endpapers too, the use of colour is lovely. There’s real imagination and fun in this book.

Finally, Rhian Stone’s illustrations for Frances Tosdevin’s book, Grandad’s Star, are so moving and well executed. Not only are the illustrations incredibly beautiful and well thought out, but they are also full of emotion. 

It’s so important to support new illustrators. Illustrating is a pretty solitary endeavour, and it’s difficult to look objectively at the work you are doing when you are doing it. Once a book is out there it’s sort of gone, and unless you walk outside of your home or studio and demand an opinion (which has its own perils), there’s no real way of knowing if your work holds any value in the outside world. Awards provide that validation. Validation that your work has been seen, looked at, considered, and enjoyed. Not only that, they celebrate different books. Books that children may not have heard about, in a world where only a handful of authors and illustrators are promoted. Awards like the Klaus Flugge Prize give space to showcase something new, fresh, exciting, and different. Books that we may not have noticed, but which deserve to be in the spotlight.

Irish-born, Bristol-based Yasmeen Ismail is an award-winning author, illustrator and animator. After co-founding a successful animation production company, Yasmeen changed her focus to writing and illustrating picture books. Her first picture book ‘Time for Bed, Fred’ with Bloomsbury Publishing, won the V&A Best Illustrated Book Award and The New York Times Best Illustrated Book award. It was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, longlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, and nominated for the National Cartoonists Society “Silver Reuben” Award. Following the success of her debut picture book she has been nominated for her other works many times since and has been selected by the Society of Illustrators to have her work shown in the Original Art Exhibition in New York six years in a row. Her most recent book is Meena’s Saturday (Puffin), written by Kusum Mepani.

The books shortlisted for this year’s Klaus Flugge Prize are:

My Hair is as Long as a River illustrated by Emma Farrarons, written by Charlie Castle (Macmillan)

The Café at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Grandad’s Star illustrated by Rhian Stone, written by Frances Tosdevin (Rocket Bird Books)

The winner will be announced on 11 September 2025. klausfluggeprize.co.uk


Image below shows Yasmeen Ismail, taken by Jake Green.

Big thanks to Yasmeen Ismail for such a terrific blog and to Andrea Reece and the Klaus Flugge Prize for the opportunity.