Wellington illustrations student Bridget Monro's work is set to delight thousands of school children after winning a competition to illustrate a play in the School Journal.

Each year School Journal publisher Learning Media and Massey University's Wellington-based College of Creative Arts develop a competition brief for third- and fourth-year illustrations students.

This year's brief called for the students to illustrate a science fiction play "Touchdown" by Peter Friend and Alicia Ponder.

The winner would receive the standard illustrators' rate and have his or her illustration published in the School Journal, which has nurtured such artists as Rita Angus, Russell Clark, and Dick Frizzell.

In her fourth year of a visual communication degree majoring in illustration, Monro, 26, chose a moody steampunk style treatment, which combines science fiction elements with Victorian-era clothing and steam-powered technology.

She said she took a risk adopting the steampunk style, popularised by works such as the Lemony Snicket books and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics and film.

"I didn't expect the judges to go for the steampunk aesthetic I had chosen. I thought it might be just a little bit too old for the eight-year-old audience," she said.

One of the judges, Learning Media's Senior Designer Simon Waterfield said the judging panel had also thought it might be too sophisticated for the audience.

"We changed our minds when the illustrations proved popular with a class of year five students at Karori West Normal School," he said. "We can forget how savvy young audiences can be, with one student making a connection to the visual style of The Lord of the Rings movies."

Waterfield said the lighting, composition and gestural drawing gave Monro's illustrations a dramatic flair, and left some interpretation of the illustrations open to the students.

"Her illustrations had something different which we weren't quite expecting," he said.

Waterfield said the four judges had found it difficult to separate the top three entries until they had tested the illustrations with the Karori West students.

The award was announced by Learning Media Manager Publishing Services Kirsty Farquharson at the opening of the Imagine That! exhibition, which showcases the winners of the competition since it started in 1999.

Imagine That! is free and open to the public from 5-15 August at the Tea Gardens, Massey University, Buckle St, Wellington.