Ukrainian illustrator won the 2025 Bologna Children’s Book Fair

The 2025 Bologna Children’s Book Fair announced Ukrainian illustrator Maria Hayduk as the winner of the 59th Bologna Illustrators Exhibition. Hayduk won the Fundación SM International Award for Illustration. 

“The jury members were particularly impressed by the impact and potential of the artist’s work, which balances boldness with sensitivity,” reads Bologna Children’s Book Fair’s Facebook post.

Maria Hayduk received the award for her project “Killing Gods.” This artistic study explores the relationship with wild nature and reality.

“I sincerely hope that this will help draw more attention to the issue of genocide that humans are committing against nature and animals,” Hayduk wrote on her Instagram page. “I would like to thank my mentors, Ivan Sergeev (Serbia) and Nina Ignatova (Spain), for their guidance, as well as Vitalii Zemlianskii, Dr. sc. nat., for his assistance in writing the scientific text (Zurich, Switzerland).”

A total of 21,870 creative works from 4,374 artists across 89 countries were submitted to the 59th Bologna Illustrators Exhibition. 324 illustrators were selected as finalists, including four more Ukrainian artists: Oksana Drachkovska, Sofia Kupriyanova, Anna Ivanenko, and Olesya Sekeresh.

Maria Hayduk, originally from Kherson, is a student of the Lviv National Academy of Arts.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is the main global professional fair of children’s literature and is held annually in March or April in the Italian city of Bologna. The event usually lasts for four days. The Bologna Book Fair brings together exhibitors from the book publishing industry, authors and thousands of book lovers.

The Bologna Illustrators Exhibition, organized as part of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, has been held annually since 1967. The goal of the competition is to showcase the latest trends in illustration through introducing new artists’ names. 

RELATED: Six Ukrainian illustrators longlisted for 2024 World Illustration Awards

Main image: Maria Haiduk/Bologna Children’s Book Fair website

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn