Antalis has announced the 12 student winners of its “Creative Power” themed competition, who will see their work featured in the printed 2027 The Cut calendar.
Antalis has announced the winners of The Cut competition following an exceptional response from students across 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 2027 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 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 an opportunity to work on a real-world, print-focused brief directly linked to material choice and production, gain a strong portfolio piece for graduate roles, and receive exposure through Antalis’ channels throughout 2027.
View the winning students and their designs here.
View the shortlisted entries here.