SA Student’s Handcrafted Picture Book Wins Global Award!

‘With Love’ has just earned Emma a global award! The illustrated work embraces imperfections and quirks, telling a broader story about difference and belonging.

Cape Town, South Africa (15 May 2026) – A South African student’s creativity has turned heads and earned an international award at The One Club for Creativity’s 2026 Young Ones Student Awards!

Emma Blomerus, a student at the Red & Yellow Creative School of Business, has scooped the Student Merit Award in the Young Ones ADC Illustration / Print category for her project, With Love.

The category’s competition is one of the world’s most established student award programmes in advertising and interactive design, dating as far back as the 1980s! In this year’s archive of illustrations, Emma’s project was the only work selected from an African institution.

With Love was created as a postmodern picture book that comes with a wider social awareness campaign. The story focuses on themes like belonging, difference, and the often-overlooked perspective of the birth mother. It all comes to life through the Doodle family – Mommy Inky, Daddy Scribble and Baby Stamp!

“With Love is a social impact campaign built around a narrative picture book that introduces the Doodle family. Mommy Inky, Daddy Scribble, and their curious little one, Baby Stamp, the Postman of Forgotten Dreams who delivers letters never received. This playful family, formed through adoption, brings to life a story that fills two key gaps in adoption literature: the absence of a true narrative and the missing perspective of the birth mother. The book’s primary tale follows Baby Stamp’s adventures of belonging and discovery, with adoption explored as a gentle secondary focus. The campaign extends into a hand-bound book, an interactive 3D post office diorama where viewers can post their own dreams, and OOH elements raising awareness and funds for The Empathologist, an NGO supporting birth mothers.” Blomerus shares in her campaign.

The project was designed to teach a lesson and create impact. The picture book is the heart of it all.

All illustrations were developed by Emma by hand. She also constructed detailed 3D models to create the charming world that exists within the picture book. Going against the grain of increasingly polished ‘sameness’ of digitally generated work, With Love embraces imperfections and quirks. That resonates with people…and earns awards!

“Winning a Merit Award at The One Club Young Ones is a profound moment for With Love. This book is a celebration of adoption and the beauty of being different,” shares Stephanie Simpson, Illustration Lecturer for Red & Yellow’s BA Visual Communication Design and number one ranked lecturer in Africa according to the 2025 Loeries Official Rankings. “In an era increasingly dominated by slick, AI-generated imagery, Emma’s commitment to hand-crafting every illustration, coupled with her meticulously constructed 3D models, proves that the soul and ‘imperfection’ of tactile work remain incredibly valuable and resonant,” she adds.

Sources: The Friday Street Club.

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