Antalis announces The Cut competition winning student designers for 2027 Calendar
The winners of The Cut competition have now been announced, following an exceptional response from students across the academic design communities.
The winners of The Cut competition have now been announced, following an exceptional response from students across the academic design communities.
This year’s competition attracted 190 entries from 25 academic institutions, highlighting the depth of emerging creative talent across the sector. From these submissions, 48 entries were shortlisted, with 12 winners ultimately selected to feature in the forthcoming The Cut calendar.
The theme for this year’s calendar, “Creative Power,” gave students the opportunity to interpret the brief in their own way through innovative design, typography and imagery. The broad scope of the theme encouraged a wide range of creative responses, resulting in a diverse and highly impressive body of work.
Katie Farr, Marketing & Communications Manager at Antalis, said, “We received a large number of outstanding entries, and the standard of work submitted was exceptionally high. As a result, selecting the winners was a very difficult decision for the judging panel.”
A distinctive element of The Cut competition is its focus on materiality and print production. As part of their submission, students selected papers from Antalis’ Creative Paper portfolio, including Keaykolour, Olin Design, Olin Colours, Olin Origins, Conqueror, Refit, Rives and Curious. This encouraged entrants to think beyond visual concepts alone and to consider the role of paper, colour, tactility and print production processes as integral parts of the design outcome.
The Cut calendar is now in production, designed by Luigi Carnovale at Design LSC and exceptionally printed by Ricoh on a five-colour Pro C7500 digital press. It will be distributed widely across the print and design communities, providing valuable exposure for the winning students and helping showcase the next generation of up-and-coming designers to industry professionals.
For the 12 winners, the competition offers much more than recognition alone. Their success provides an opportunity to work on a real-world, print-focused brief directly linked to material choice and production, gain a strong portfolio piece for placements, internships and graduate roles, and receive exposure through Antalis’ online and offline channels throughout 2027.
The Cut competition champions emerging design talent by giving students the opportunity to engage with the realities of professional print design while exploring creative ideas in a tangible and meaningful way.
View the winning students and their designs here.
View all the shortlisted entries here.
