Society of Illustrators Awards 2025
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The Society of Illustrators’ 2025 Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony & Dinner is coming up on October 9, 2025.
Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame
The Daily Cartoonist noted the Hall of Fame Laureates back in April when they were first announced.
Recently The Society has announced other awards for 2025. Whether these will be presented at The Hall of Fame ceremony is a mystery to me. The Awards Ceremony and Dinner bulletin makes no mention of them.
The Original Art Lifetime Achievement Awards
Nominees must be judged to have a body of work that documents an innovative and pioneering contribution to the field of children’s book illustration, and final selection is made by artists whose work has been juried into the show over the past six years. Two awards are given annually: one posthumously and one to a living illustrator.
Marc Simont (1915 – 2013) [link added], illustrated nearly a hundred books, among them James Thurber’s The 13 Clocks and a 1990 edition of Thurber’s Many Moons. He worked with such authors as Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (on the Nate the Great series) and Margaret Wise Brown and won both a Caldecott Honor and a Caldecott Medal for his illustrations of children’s books.
Marc Simont also was the illustrator for a few James Thurber children’s books.
Maira Kalman [link added], an artist celebrated for her work for adults, including New Yorker covers and New York Times visual essays, was inspired to create children’s books when she had her own kids. She has since used her quirky, distinctive vision to illustrate over thirty titles, most of which she also wrote, and her picture books are at once playful and sophisticated, a whimsical mix of text and art.
She introduced her memorable protagonist, Max the dog, in Max Makes a Million, which became an instant classic; then she followed it with two other Max adventures…
As mentioned Kalman has done over a dozen covers for The New Yorker, the latest being this month.
Richard Gangel Award
[T]he Richard Gangel Art Director Award honors art directors currently working in the field who have supported and advanced the art of illustration. This award is named in honor of Richard Gangel (1918–2002), the influential art director at Sports Illustrated from 1960 to 1981, whose collaboration with illustrators during that period was exceptional.
Leo Jung [link added] is a San Francisco-based art director, designer, and illustrator. Currently, he is the creative director at California Sunday, Inc., a media company made up of The California Sunday Magazine and Pop-Up Magazine. Previously, he was the design director at Wired magazine and deputy art director at The New York Times Magazine. His work has been recognized by the Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, the Society of News Design, and the Society of Publication Designers. He has also served on design juries for the Art Directors Club, the D&AD, and the Society of Publication Designers.
Distinguished Educator
The Distinguished Educator has attained the highest standards of academic achievement and has demonstrated interest in and capability of furthering the Society’s educational programs.
Robyn Phillips-Pendleton [link added] is a visual storyteller, educator, designer, curator, and author, and her work has been showcased at national and international exhibitions. Notably, she co-curated the “Imprinted: Illustrating Race” exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum, which will travel nationally through 2026. Additionally, her roles as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Illustrators NY and the Board of Trustees of the Norman Rockwell Museum underscore her significant contributions to the field.
Robyn’s active participation in various boards and organizations demonstrates her commitment to the illustration community…
The Dilys Evans Founder’s Award
This Award recognizes promising new talent in children’s book illustration. Submissions for this award are processed through the Original Art Show. To be eligible, an artist may have no more than three books published in the U.S & The artist must not have won the award before. The award specifically focuses on children’s book illustration.
Angie Kang [link added] makes art in LA. Our Lake is her first children’s book, and she has also created illustrations for Navigating Light by Julie Leung (Anne Schwartz Books), which will be published in 2026. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Believer, High Country News, Catapult, and other publications. She is the recipient of the MacDowell / Ezra Jack Keats Fellowship, and she has also been supported by organizations such as the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, Tin House, VONA / Voices, Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, and the Sundress Academy of Arts. She was featured in Best Small Fictions 2024 and named one of Narrative’s “30 under 30” writers, and she was shortlisted for the 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize.
Hamilton King Award
This one, like the Hall of Fame honorees, was announced earlier this year.
The Hamilton King Award, created in 1965 by Hildreth Halsey in memory of her husband through a bequest, is presented annually for the best work in the Annual Exhibition executed by a member of the Society. One of the industry’s most prestigious awards, the selection is made by former recipients of this award and may be won only once.
David Plunkert‘s [link added] illustrations have appeared in advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies as well as major newspapers, magazines, and recording labels. His work has been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, Graphis, Print, the Society of Illustrators, and The New York Art Directors’ Club. He has been featured in numerous books including: Cool Type, New Masters of Poster Design, The Greatest Rock Albums that Never Were, Mixing Messages, Typography Sketchbooks, 1,000 Indie Posters, and Visualizing Finance 1.0.
Yet to be announced for 2025 are The SI IMPACT Award and the Stevan Dohanos Award.
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