Illustration student from Trinity Saint David creates '' prize for the Book of the Year competition.

Nia Hopkins, a student from Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David has created a special prize for the ‘Barn y Bobl’ category in the Book of the Year competition. 

This is the fourteenth year in a row that a student of the Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David has created a prize for this category. The aim of this partnership is to give an opportunity for a young artist to have a platform for their work. Nia designed a special illustration which was given as a gift to the author Iwan Rhys for his book: “Trothwy” by Golwg360, sponsors of the Barn y Bobl Prize. 

Nia comes from Swansea. She is a former pupil of Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr and Llwyn y Bryn Art College.  Her work has been influenced by a number of illustrators who display their work on the internet. Some of these have been influenced by Anime and Manga, and therefore her work has also been influenced by this. In addition, she has been inspired by people she has met as well as by her dreams. 

Nia decided to create an original new piece of work for the prize which is therefore completely unique to the winner.  She said: 

“ I am very excited about having the honour of being chosen to create an illustration for this prize.  The background of the illustration is supposed to be similar to bookshelves.  My main inspiration for the prize is the feeling I get when I read. When reading, I feel that it would be easy to lose myself in the story.

“This will be a big help to me in my future career. This is the first commission I have received since completing the Illustration programme with UWTSD and working on this has been been a lot of fun.”

Lecturer Gwenllian Beynon of Swansea Art College said: 

“It is fantastic for me as a lecturer in charge of the Welsh language in the Art College to work with students and the publishing sector in Wales. 

“Working on this kind of award, which is personal art but also a type of commission, gives the student a new challenge, and Nia has succeeded in creating a picture that celebrates books. 

We are delighted to work with Golwg360 on this and extend our congratulations to Iwan Rhys.”

Owen Schiavone from Golwg360 added: 

“We are very pleased to collaborate once again with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David to offer promising students the opportunity to create the Barn y Bobl Book of the Year Prize this year. Golwg360 has held a Barn y Bobl vote for the past fourteen years, and the University has been a constant partner during this period – we are delighted to be able to continue this partnership. 

“Again this year, the University offered a perfect artist to us in Nia Hopkins. Nia’s work is very unique, and we were delighted with the illustration she created for the prize.  We hope that creating a prize for an occasion as important as the Book of The Year has been an excellent experience for her, and we are confident that we will see Nia’s art work and her career as an artist going from strength to strength in the future.”

Further Information

Lowri Thomas

Principal Communications and PR Officer     
Corporate Communications and PR     
Email: lowri.thomas@uwtsd.ac.uk     
Phone: 07449 998476