Artists take on a Terry Pratchett classic for the Penguin Cover Design Award

You can't judge a book by its cover, but Penguin believes you can judge a cover itself. The publisher has just announced the 20 shortlisted entries for its 2026 Cover Design Award, an annual competition that invites aspiring creatives to redesign iconic Penguin book covers.

This year's theme is fantasy, and entrants were invited to designing covers for either Terry Pratchett's Night Watch in the Adult Fiction Category or Madeline L’Engle's A Wrinkle in Time in the Children’s Fiction Category (for inspiration see our tips on how to create engaging book cover art).

For Night Watch, artists and designers were asked to reflect "how the book is firmly embedded in the fantasy genre, while also engaging with its razor-sharp political and moral themes". For the Madeline L’Engle cover, the brief required them to "instantly engage the core audience as well as those who buy and recommend books for children – parents, carers, teachers, booksellers, etc."

Ten artists have been shortlisted in each category and have received individual feedback on their submissions, allowing them to edit and resubmit their work. Their updated designs (pictured above) will go forward to the final round of judging in April.

It's interesting to see the varied interpretation's of Terry Pratchett's Night Watch. Adam Farquharson, one of the entrants (see the design above), said he wanted to honour the author and the work of previous Discworld illustrators while exploring art nouveau and classic illustration styles, focusing on artists like Frank Booth, alongside the visual design of the astrological zodiac clock to create a bold image of a Sam Vimes standing against the wheels of time.

Sunny Tsang uses blocky handmade text inspired by the idea of revolution, and standing up for the innocent (below). "I really wanted to communicate the high tension and drama in the fight against corruption that the characters endure through the silhouettes,” he says. “I also looked into film poster designs from the 60s. These inspired my use of bold colours as well as the sharp angular shapes.”

In the children's category, Lili French said of her design (below): “I started the design quite intuitively. I listened to the audiobook and then collected some keywords to focus on like ‘space’, ‘galaxy’, ‘ethereal’, ‘crystal ball’. I decided on a colour palette and started sketching with the emotions the book made me feel.

“I wanted something dynamic and visually pleasing, and I focused on getting my target audience right. So the illustration is a bit playful, naive, and the characters are relatable. I think if I were a 13-year-old now, I would love the look of this book.”

Adult Fiction category shortlist in full

• Adam Farquharson
• Amber Winthrop
• Callum Selkirk
• Federico Tear
• Georgia McEwen
• Joe Bundock
• Peter Goddard
• Rebecca Oliver
• Sanah Jamil
• Sunny Tsang

Children’s Fiction Category shortlist in full

• Eleanor Deutz
• Em Kirsten
• Fir Gurden
• Imogen Bowers
• Ivy Watts
• Jiazhen Cai
• Kamila Zarosa
• Kate Wand
• Lili French
• Yutong Liu

As the Cover Design Award is intended to champion emerging talent, that entrants must have no more than a year’s experience in a paid creative role. Some 60% of this year’s shortlist are students, with the remaining finalists either at the beginning of their creative careers or working outside the creative industries.

The winners will receive a six-month mentorship with a member of the Penguin Art Department, a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium tablet and Penguin books.

For more inspiration see Ivan Shavrin's tutorial on how to go from rough sketch to stunning book cover art and Fernanda Suarez's tips on How to illustrate a YA book cover.