Congratulations to Joseph Namara Hollis, winner of the 2022 Klaus Flugge Prize for his ‘warm and humorous’ picture book Pierre’s New Hair (Tate Publishing).

The Klaus Flugge Prize was founded in 2016 to honour Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press and one of the most influential figures in children’s picture books. It is awarded to the year’s most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.

Pierre’s New Hair was chosen from a shortlist of six titles by a panel made up of illustrators, past winners and children’s book experts.

Julia Eccleshare, Chair of the judges and Director of the Children’s Programme at the Hay Festival commented: “Once again, this year’s shortlist was very strong and we will follow the careers of all the shortlisted illustrators with huge interest. Congratulations to Joseph for Pierre’s New Hair which is original and a joy to look at. While very funny, it also slips in a message about valuing what’s really important – friends, joy, art.”

Fellow judge and renowned illustrator Emily Gravett said: “Pierre’s New Hair is like a breath of fresh air. It made me laugh out loud. What impressed me was the way that Joseph was able to conjure up a whole world for his characters to inhabit. It was our winner because we loved how every aspect of the book fitted together perfectly to make this a quirky fun book to read.”

The five other shortlisted titles for this year’s Klaus Flugge Prize were:

Mammoth illustrated by Adam Beer, written by Anna Kemp (Simon and Schuster)

Choices by Roozeboos (Child’s Play)

The Tale of the Whale illustrated by Padmacandra, written by Karen Swann (Scallywag Press)

Rescuing Titanic by Flora Delargy (Wide Eyed Editions)

Alley Cat Rally by Ricky Trickartt (Flying Eye Books)

Find further resources to help explore the shortlist here.