The 2023 Applied Arts Photography & Illustration online gallery now live!

Applied Arts recognizes exceptional artistry in all applied arts mediums. We strive to shed light on the best in our industry and, in doing so, inspire us all to continue to strive for excellence! We are happy to announce that the 2023 Applied Arts Photography & Illustration Awards winning entries are now live! 

Thank you to our judges for sharing your expertise with us, also, thank you to all the talented entrants who submitted their work into this year's competition! And finally, Congratulations to all our winners!

On the subject of winners; we asked our judges what make an entry a winner for them, our judge Karolina Łoboda replied: "I was looking for the emotional impact the piece had on me viewing it. Skill and technique was second. Overall the pieces entered were excellent. The range in styles in both Illustration and Photography was evident."

"Love the energy and playfulness of this piece" says Karolina Łoboda, Creative Director, KLDS, Toronto, ON, on the winning entry SkipTheDishes HQ Mural by Chairman Ting Industries in the Environmental/Spaces Illustration category.

The judging process has remained unchanged since we launched the Applied Arts Awards in 1992, the judges were divided into groups, each viewing and scoring a different and random group of entries over one round of judging. Each judge poured through the entries via our secure online judging system without consulting each other. The judges assigned one score to each entry based on creative merit, technical excellence and suitability for end use in the category it was submitted to. Each entry was judged independently on its own merit and not by rank or comparison to other entries in the same category.

There is no predetermined quota of winners. For instance, should a category have no entries above the cut-off score that category is simply eliminated and in categories with many entries above the cut-off score, they are all declared winners. The winners are not ranked (i.e.: gold, silver, etc.); every entry above the cut-off score is given equal exposure as a winner.

"Inspiring use of colour, motion and design" says Mustaali Raj, Art Director, Designer & Visual Artist, Vancouver,BC, on the winning entry Little Boy with his Dragon Friend in the Young Blood-Motion-Animation category.

Be sure to check out the Summer Annual, available in late June, it will be choke-full of inspiration with the 2023 Photography, Illustration and Design awards winners. For non-subscribers, the Annual will be available at select newsstands or pre-order your copy now for delivery in early July. If you don’t want to wait, scroll through our 2023 Photography and Illustration winners gallery now. 

Thank you to our award sponsors VISTEK; association partners CAPIC, Design Professionals of Canada (DesCan) and RGD; and our print and paper partner Mi5 Print & Digital Communications for their support!