OUR 2026 JUDGES
KORKY PAUL
Korky Paul was born in Zimbabwe and studied Fine Arts and Film Animation.
Among his many picture books is the multi-million selling Winnie the Witch series.
He is a patron of The Art Room, Pegasus Theatre, ARCh, Reading Quest and The Stratford Literary Festival. He lives and works in Oxford.
He is one of the two permanent judges for Young Art Oxford and has been on board since its inception in 2008.
DR SARAH SIMBLET
Dr Sarah Simblet is a fine artist and Professor of drawing at The Ruskin Art School in Oxford. She has written and illustrated four major art reference books including her latest The New Sylva. She exhibits widely and has work in many collections including The Ashmolean and Royal Academy.
Sarah has been one of the permanent judges for Young Art Oxford since it started.
JEREMY HOUGHTON
Passionate about the good that art can do, Jeremy is a an artist in residence who has accepted invitations to paint at some of the world's most extraordinary places, including Windsor Castle for HM Queen Elizabeth II.
He is also a member of Cotswolds Arts Through Schools which works in partnership with professional artists, musicians and local arts organisations to deliver and develop the teaching of art, music, drama, dance, and oracy within local state schools.
ROB JONES
Rob is an author illustrator of Where's Brian's Bottom? , Who's Tickling Tilly? and Where's Willy's Welly? He also illustrates the Funny Life of... series by James Campbell. The Funny Life of Football won the Sunday Times Children's Sports Book Prize 2023. His first book, Bernard, won the People's Book Prize in 2014.
As well as illustrating books, Rob has a passion for making toys and puppets - a number of which have been used in The Story Museum productions in Oxford.
