We had 5,784 entries to this year’s Illustration Annual, a drop of about 3% from last year’s competition. When asked about the direction illustration is currently taking, juror Janet Michaud commented, “Right now I think it’s literal rather than interpretive. That seems to be the climate. As the economy gets better, I hope people will take more chances.” “I think there is a lot of searching for new direction, and unfortunately, a lot of it is in the direction of computers,” said juror Terry McCaffrey. “I would hope that good, solid, hand illustration will continue to be appreciated and commissioned.” Juror Sara Schneider concurred, “I’d hate to say that it’s all going digital, but I do think that tighter deadlines and budgets are driving illustrators in that direction. And, there are some that do a stellar job with it. Their style is dependent on the computer and thrives on it. That does not mean that I wish to see hand-rendered art suffer however. My preference is to see three viable options: hand-rendered images, digital art and a skillful marriage of both.”