The Worst Journey in the World by Sarah Airriess

The Worst Journey in the World by Sarah Airriess

Einer Award 2025 Nominee: Best Adaptation from Another Medium

Ignatz Award 2025 Nominee: Outstanding Artist

In 1922, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of survivors of Captain Scott's ill-fated attempt to reach the South Pole, published his memoir of the expedition. The Worst Journey in the World humanised the epic tragedy with its sensitive observations of the men involved and evocative descriptions of Antarctic life. A century later, this classic of travel literature has been adapted into a series of graphic novels by Disney veteran Sarah Airriess, who has spent over a decade researching the expedition in order to tell the story completely and faithfully. The personalities of the men, and the science they undertook, are equally as important to understanding the story as the famous feats of exploration.

Sarah trained as an animator in Canada and has worked in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and London. At 26, she heard a radio dramatisation of The Worst Journey in the World, which led to throwing away her career and moving to England to make the graphic novel. She went to Antarctica in 2019 with the NSF's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, and is currently an Institute Associate at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.