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Marco Sergio: It was born from the urgency to give voice to hope. To speak for those who don’t have it, those who wish in silence, in a world where there is no equality. To tell the power of dreams and the strength of opportunities.
Ann Nadine: Marco Sergio shared the story with me and invited me to illustrate it. I was moved by the concept, so from there I developed the visual storytelling, creating the scenes and visual rhythm that shape Maryam’s imagined life.
Marco Sergio: The story is about a child, Maryam, that lives carefree days in a quiet city, with a lot of friends, many colours and all the opportunities that a girl should have. But, sometimes, reality is just a daydream, days are not easy and future just a big reverse flashback drawn on a book.
Ann Nadine: The story follows Maryam, a girl growing up in a colourful world filled with friendship, freedom and possibilities. Page after page we see her life unfold. Only in the final pages does the perspective shift, revealing that everything we saw belongs to the dream of a child.
Marco Sergio: To test my ability to think like a film director and to tell a new story within this beautiful contest, talking without words. Because sometimes, the silence, is the most powerful of the voices.
Ann Nadine: As an illustrator, I was interested in exploring how a story can unfold entirely through images. The contest felt like the perfect place to experiment with visual rhythm, symbolism and silent storytelling.
Ann Nadine Van Mierlo, known as Ann Nadine, was born in Manila to a Filipino mother and a French father and grew up in Padua, Italy, where she now lives. Her work blends traditional and digital media to create poetic and detailed worlds. She is the author and illustrator of the debut picture book “La Purtropperia”.
He’s a writer, astronomer, and science communicator born in 1981. He observes the sky and turns stars and silences into delicate stories shaped by time and contemplation. A daydreamer and an inventor of ever‑evolving ideas, he loves experimenting, writing everywhere, playing music, and exploring where science meets poetry.