Re-Draft is an annual writing competition for teenagers, offering the opportunity to have their work judged by professional authors and published in a carefully designed and printed anthology.
My role
Each year, following the submission deadline, judges James Norcliffe and Michelle Elvy meet with the organisers to select the works that will be published in the annual Re-Draft book.
From this selection, I’m provided with a shortlist of standout stories, poems and prose. From there, I choose one piece to illustrate for the cover, with the winning work’s title becoming the title of the book itself.
I create the cover illustration in Procreate using an iPad and Apple Pencil, carefully interpreting the chosen piece to reflect its tone and detail. The final artwork is then developed into a full cover design in Adobe Illustrator.
I also design the book’s interior layout in Adobe InDesign, ensuring consistency across styles and an efficient use of space – balancing readability with the goal of showcasing as much writing as possible.
Alongside the design work, I manage timely updates across Re-Draft’s social media channels and produce a series of posters each year to promote the competition in schools and libraries throughout New Zealand.
The finished books are distributed to winners, schools and libraries nationwide towards the end of each year, with support from organisations such as Creative New Zealand.
