The Rudolf Koivu children's book illustration prize

Grafia gives the 10 000 € Rudolf Koivu prize for the best children's or youth book illustration every second year. The Rudolf Koivu prize was first awarded in 1949 to celebrate the lifetime achievements of the artist Rudolf Koivu. The purpose of the prize is to raise the quality of artwork in children's books.

The Rudolf Koivu Prize

Grafia announces the 10 000 € Rudolf Koivu Prize for the best children's or youth book illustration every second year. The Rudolf Koivu Prize was first awarded in 1949 to honour the lifetime achievements of the artist Rudolf Koivu.

In 1933 illustrators working for book and newspaper publishers founded the Finnish Draughtsmen's Association, the predecessor of present-day Grafia. Rudolf Koivu acted as the association's first secretary. The prize, founded to honour the artist Rudolf Koivu, seeks to raise the quality of artwork in children's books. Until 1983 the prize was awarded by the Rudolf Koivu Foundation, in 1983-1986 it was awarded jointly by Grafia and Suomen Nuorisokirjailijat ry (the Finnish Union of authors writing for children, youngsters and young adults) and in 1986-1996 by the Finnish Book Foundation. In 1997 the prize returned to the Grafia association.

The Grafia board has confirmed the following instructions for awarding the Rudolf Koivu Prize on 11.12.1997 and 1.11.1998:
   1. The Rudolf Koivu Prize is a children's and youth book award. The competition is open to all children's and youth book illustrations regardless of production or technique. The entries can be either traditional books or electronic multimedia pieces.
   2. The prize can be awarded to an artist with a Finnish citizenship.
   3. The Grafia board will decide the date and allot the funding for the prize every second year.
   4. The Grafia board will nominate a jury consisting of five people, of whom three are professionals of visual design, one represents children's culture and one is connected with the field in some other way. The jury must give full reason for its decision. A person from the Grafia office will act as a secretary for the jury.
   5. The entry may come either from the illustrator or from the publisher.
 

Rudolf Koivu (1890 - 1946)

Painter and illustrator Rudolf Koivu was born in 1890 in St. Petersburg and died 1946 in Helsinki. He studied in the Fine Arts Society of Finland drawing school in Helsinki from 1907 to 1910. Koivu was a pioneer of Finnish children's literature illustration. Among his best known works are the illustrations made for the stories by Zacharias Topelius, Anni Swan and H.C Andersen, as well as for the Stories from the Thousand and One Nights and Eero Salmelainen's compilation of Finnish fairy tales (Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita). Since the 1930s Koivu collaborated with the storybook writer Raul Roine. Koivu's illustrations are characterized by a richness of detail, high and narrow forms and androgynous characters. His illustrations display the trends of his age, such as symbolism and art nouveau, in a personalised way. In his later works Koivu also adopted a number of oriental topics. Rudolf Koivu was the first secretary of the Finnish Draughtsmen's Association (present-day Grafia).