OPERA PRIMA 2020

WINNER

Where is Your Sister?

Text and illustrations by Puck Koper
Two Hoots, UK, 2019

What the jury said:
“An animated, funny picturebook distilled to clean lines, a limited palette and flat, geometric shapes in which crowded pages encourage readers to seek and find, as a child gets separated from her mother and sister in a department store, earning free cake. It plays with the universal fear of getting lost."

An old tailor shop at Intersection

SPECIAL MENTION

An old tailor shop at Intersection

Text and illustrations by Ahn Jaesun
Woongjin Think Big, South Korea, 2019

What the jury said:
“Chronicling 100 years of history of a small men’s tailor’s shop in Seoul, retold with dog-headed figures, and making judicious use of colour based on browns and greys, this exquisite picturebook shows the details of the crowded city, tailoring tools and processes, and a fascinating variety of body shapes being measured and fitted with bespoke suits."

Troca-tintas

SPECIAL MENTION

Troca-tintas

Text and illustrations by Gonçalo Viana

Orfeu Negro, Portugal, 2019

What the jury said:
“A zinging picturebook that playfully invites readers to subvert the expected and imagine the world in different colours. It has a vintage 1950s circus-y flavour with a fresh, distinctive, bold look which is impressively accomplished for a debut."

Kiki en promenade

SPECIAL MENTION

Kiki en promenade

Text and illustrations by Marie Mirgaine
Éditions Les Fourmis Rouges, France, 2019

What the jury said:
“The charmingly absurd tale of oblivious Julien who walks his shaggy dog. As they trudge forward the dog is snatched by an eagle. Without a backward glance, Julien walks the eagle and successive predators until Kiki returns. Deliciously paced and skillfully crafted from varied techniques including textured paper collage."

Widziałem pięknego dzięcioła (I Saw a Beautiful Woodpecker)

SPECIAL MENTION

Widziałem pięknego dzięcioła

Text by Michał Skibiński
Illustrations by Ala Bankroft
Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry, Poland, 2019

What the jury said:
“In Warsaw in Poland an eight-year-old boy was told to write a sentence a day to practise his handwriting over the summer of 1939. The holiday was interrupted by war, but the manuscript diary survived and this rare discovery is reproduced 80 years later and completed with lush, sunlit, paintings."