Chinese Excellence - the jury

Elodie Bourgeois was born in Barcelona into a trilingual environment. She studied at the

Grazia Gotti likes to describe herself as a cultural activist. After graduating in pedagogy, she worked as a teacher and bookseller, as well as a promoter and organiser of exhibitions, training programs and reading-promotion projects. Grazia is co-founder of the children’s bookstore Giannino Stoppani and of the Accademia Drosselmeier in Bologna, and a consultant for BCBF.
She has published several books: A scuola con i libri. Avventure di una libraia maestra (2013), Ne ho vedute tante da raccontar. Crescere con i libri (2015), La biblioteca dei saperi (2021), Come un giardino. Leggere la poesia ai bambini (2021), Alla lettera (2022), La nave scuola (2023).

Chen Hui, PH.D, professor of Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University. During the past 20 years, she has published various scholarly publications and articles. She has been devoted to the creation and research of children's picture books, writing 48 of her own and translating many English picture books into Chinese. Her major works include Chinese Picture Book Creation: Theory and Practice (2020) and A Reading Guide to Children's Picture Book (2021).
She has also edited several books in this field including Picture Books for Infants (2018). Her experience in the field has also led to her being invited to judge numerous picture book awards, both domestic and international, including CCBF Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition 2020, BIBF Illustrators Exhibition 2024, the Chinese Picture Book Times Award and the World Illustration Awards 2020, Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava 2023. She is also a member of the Children’s Literature Committee of the China Writers Association.

Øyvind Torseter (1972) is one of Norway’s leading illustrators, cartoonists, and picture book authors. He has written and illustrated numerous critically acclaimed and award-winning books, and he has also collaborated as an illustrator and co-author with other writers. He has received around 55 awards, honours, and grants, including the Bologna Ragazzi Award, Prix Jeune Albert, the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize, the Premio Andersen, the Critics’ Prize, the Ministry of Culture’s awards six times, and the Brage Prize.
His books have been translated into over 20 languages. 

Jiang Xun is a highly respected scholar, aesthetician, and writer from Taiwan, China. Born in Xi'an and raised in Taiwan, he is a versatile intellectual accomplished as a painter, poet, and author. He is widely admired for his lifelong commitment to popularizing aesthetics.

Tian Zhongli is the President of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication. As a distinguished professor and doctoral supervisor, he holds significant positions in the art community, including Director of the Illustration and Book Binding Art Committee of the China Artists Association and Vice Chairman of the Beijing Artists Association.