Aspiring Toronto illustrator Shen Plum was awarded the inaugural James Lee Foundation scholarship at the Lotus Awards in Vancouver last week.
The scholarship was established last year to honour the late copywriter James Lee.
After Lee passed away from a rare heart defect in 2007, his friends and colleagues created the foundation to celebrate his legacy in advertising and assist new students entering the field. The award was open to non-professional filmmakers, recording artists, illustrators, photographers, writers, art directors and digital artists aspiring to work in the advertising industry.
“Throughout James’ career, he was always a really big supporter of emerging creative talent,” said Lee’s brother Stephen, recalling how James frequently visited art schools to talk to students and encouraged young creatives to send him their portfolios.
“After he left us it seemed like an appropriate way to continue the work he’d done throughout his life,” said Stephen. “It was something he himself would have supported.”
Though Lee was a copywriter, Stephen Lee said the scholarship was open to any medium, partially because James was passionate about all forms of creative expression. “He was always looking for the greater potential of advertising as a medium.”
The foundation began accepting applications for its first scholarship in August, and submissions were judged by a panel comprised of members of Lee’s family and representatives from the foundation’s five founding agencies:
In a speech given at the Lotus awards, Stephen Lee said the panel was impressed by Plum’s originality and “intensely personal vision.
“In short, Shen is an artist with a unique and distinctive point of view, and as many of the judges remarked, James himself would have loved her work.”
Shen will use the $5,000 award to pay for her tuition at the Ontario College of Art and Design where she is studying illustration.
