3x3 Annual Goes to Press

We’re sending out the 3x3 Illustration Annual No 8 to the printer today. Chock full of excellent work, this 424 page annual displays most of the images in a single page plus this year we’ve added a separate Medalist section where the medal winners from each of our shows is displayed. Best of Show, Gold, Silver and Bronze winners from the professional show, children’s show and student show will appear in the front of the book, merits and distinguished merits will be displayed by category.

You’ll see some familiar names but also bear witness to some of the new talent our judges found around the world. Looking at 6,164 entries, the judges selected 347 winners. The judges were perhaps the most severe with the student show with only 34 winners from 479 entrants entering from 103 schools worldwide. The children’s show showed more winners from any previous show with a mix of 45% coming from outside the US. A frustration was how few animations were entered—this continues to be a small category; a disappointment was how uninspired judges found many of the unpublished entries this year. Perhaps it’s due to the economy, this should be a category along with self-promotion where experimentation can take place. Gallery was stronger this year than in some previous years, advertising was improved and of course, editorial was strong.

Winners receive a complimentary copy of the annual which we hope to have in the mail by the end of the month; international deliveries take a bit longer. We try to have the annual out in mid-December but due to the holidays and a bout with a terrible bug we fell behind. We also have the 480-page 3x3 Illustration Directory going to press later this month for a delivery date of mid-January, so as you can imagine we’ve been quite busy getting a total of 904 pages out the door, not to mention 84-page income survey and 252-pages of Creative Quarterly during the production process.

We’re rounding up next year’s judging panel as we speak and will start accepting entries mid-January for Annual No 9. Mark your calendars: deadline for the professional show is March 2, student show, March 23 and the children’s show, April 20.

Congratulations to all our winners. Look for the annual on selected newsstands worldwide; we’ll also be sending a free digital version of the annual to a select group of art directors and art buyers in the US.

Cover illustration by Bill Mayer