Violeta Lópiz Wins the 2025 National Illustration Award

The Ministry of Culture has awarded the National Illustration Prize 2025 to Violeta Fernández Lópiz, an Ibiza-born artist specializing in illustrated albums. The jury recognized Lópiz’s “great creativity,” as well as her “atmospheric and enveloping style, with clear poetic evocation,” further highlighting her ability to transform each project into a unique exploration of artistic expression and visual aesthetics.

The jury also emphasized how her work “enriches the language of illustrated albums” through an expressive play that maximizes the plastic, graphic, and narrative resources of the medium. Each of Lópiz’s works offers the reader a new universe, as stated in the ministry’s note, where the simple, clear, and delicate structure allows for touching other worlds with the fingers of imagination.

With this recognition, endowed with 30,000 euros, Lópiz joins a prestigious list of creators who have received the award in previous editions, such as Pep Monserrat, Sergio García Sánchez, Sonia Pulido, Viví Escrivá, Paco Giménez, María Rius Camps, Luci Gutiérrez, and Alfredo González.

Born in Ibiza in 1980, Violeta Lópiz has worked with some of the most prominent publishing houses in both national and international contexts, such as Kalandraka, Edelvives, Anaya, Siruela, Macmillan, and Oxford University Press. Her work has been translated into several languages and published in countries like France, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, and the United States.

Throughout her career, she has received multiple accolades. In 2011, her book Les Poings sur les Îles was awarded at the CJ Picture Book Awards in South Korea. In 2016, she won the Biennial Ilustrarte Prize in Lisbon with Amigos do Peito, a book with text by Claudio Tebas published by Bruaá. Her work has been selected for international fairs such as the Bologna Children’s Book Fair five times and the Salon du Livre de Montreuil in France.

Among her most notable titles are The Forest (2017), Berceuses et comptines d’Amérique du Sud (2017), I pani d’oro della vecchina (2012), and The Amazing and True Story of a Mouse Named Pérez (2012). In addition to her work as an illustrator, she collaborates with media such as El Mundo, El Expresso from Portugal, and the magazine Iberia. Her creativity also extends to clothing design, murals, interiors, album covers, books, and digital applications. She currently resides and works in Berlin, where she has her studio.