2026 Jury - International Award for Illustration

Anna and Elena Balbusso, known as Balbusso Twins, they are an award-winning Italian artist duo working internationally in the fields of illustration, art and design. After completing their studies at the “G. Sello ” art high school in their birthplace, Udine (Friuli Venezia Giulia region), they graduated in painting from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. They live and work in Milan. Their works have been published by major publishers and companies worldwide. Their clients include newspapers and magazines such as The Economist, The New Yorker magazine, The New York Times, Reader's Digest and Corriere Della Sera. They have illustrated more than 50 books. Over the course of their career, they have received more than one hundred international honors, including several Gold, Silver Medals and Best of Show from the Society of Illustrators (New York and Los Angeles), the Best of Show from the 3x3 Annual 20, Platinum, Gold and Silver Awards from Graphis; the V&A Illustration Awards Best Book from the V&A Museum. Their works have been exhibited internationally. The Norman Rockwell Museum included Anna ed Elena Balbusso in the history of illustration among the illustrators of The Decade 2010-2020. Their work regularly appears in leading international trade publications. The influential magazine Graphis featured the artist duo in Journal 377. Art historian Paola Pallottino included Anna and Elena Balbusso in the volume Le Figure per dirlo, a history of female Italian illustrators from the 17th century to the present day edited by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani. In 2026 they were awarded the prestigious Hamilton King Award by The Society of Illustrators for the images series of the children's Book "Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina, Candlewick Press. 

Stian Hole is a Norwegian illustrator, graphic designer and picturebook-maker. He has a master degree in visual communication from The National School of Arts and Design in Oslo. Hole has made numerous book covers and pickturebooks. His books are published in more than 25 countries. Garmann´s Summer (2006) received the Brage Prize, Bologna Ragazzi Award, and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. Stian Hole currently works and resides in Oslo.  

Lara Peces Ruisánchez is the art director for children’s and young adult literature at Ediciones SM (Spain). With more than eighteen years of experience in the field of children’s and YA book publishing, she specializes in editorial design and art direction. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with illustrators on the visual conception and creative development of numerous publishing projects, supporting the creative processes and contributing to the construction of books’ graphic identity. Her work focuses particularly on the dialogue between illustration, narrative, and design within children’s and young adult literature.