The winners of the 2019 Maltings Art Prize were announced at a prize-giving ceremony at the St Albans Museum + Gallery on Thursday 12th September. The event saw 200 guests, made up of finalists, parents and teachers queuing in the town centre to attend this community inspired awards evening.
The art competition, with the theme ‘My St Albans’, saw school pupils aged 4-18 years from 13 local schools compete for the chance to win a cash prize of £1,000 for their school Art Department and a £250 cash prize for the overall winner. The winning students from each of the groups were presented with trophies and all finalists received a medal.
Started early in 2019, this community project has provided children and schools in the local area with an opportunity to have their artwork displayed in the St Albans Museum +Gallery creating a colourful exhibition for both museum visitors and local residents. The finalist Exhibition was open to the public and took place between the 13th and 18th September 2019.
The competition saw over 900 entries by 13 local schools and 41 works were shortlisted by a panel of judges including: Phil Corrigan, Centre Manager of Maltings Shopping Centre and Ben Askem, local artist and owner of a working studio and gallery in the heart of St Albans.
The awards evening was opened by Phil Corrigan of the Maltings and following a few words by Councillor Anthony Rowlands the winners were announced by local artist Ben Askem and presented with their well deserved awards by Phil Corrigan.
AGE 4-7 YRS. Group 5 winner age 4-7 yrs: Isla Howard, Killigrew School
AGE 7-10 YRS. Group 4 winner: Shea Fagan, Killigrew School
AGE 10-13 YRS. Group 3 winner: Milan Duong, Nicholas Breakspear School
AGE 13-16 YRS. Group 2 winner: Joseph Lailey, Sandringhm School
AGE 16-18 YRS. Group 1 winner: Emir Johnston, Verulam School
Ceramics winner: Mylo Watson, Sandringham School
A special ‘Highly Commended’ Prize was awarded to Camp Primary & Nursery Pottery Club.
The overall winner was Joseph Lailey, with his spectacular painting of ‘Fireworks over the Abbey’. Joseph was delighted and full of smiles as parents and teachers looked on with pride as he received his trophy. Joseph attends Sandringham School and students stepped forward to accept the £1000 cheque on behalf of the schools art department. As a final surprise, Joseph’s artwork was mounted and framed courtesy of Marks & Tilt Picture Framing, St Albans.
Phil Corrigan commented “I would like to congratulate everyone who took part in the competition, as you can imagine we had a very difficult time choosing the winners. The awards evening was absolutely fantastic and it was fabulous to see all our winners together, the children were so excited to have their artwork on display”. Phil went on to say “I hope this competition inspires students to think about art and it’s great to see such a variety of art and design in St Albans schools, all using an array of materials including ceramic”.
Maltings Shopping Centre would like to thank children and teachers at our participating schools for their entries and support of this competition.
Participating Schools:
Beaumont School, Camp Primary & Nursery Pottery Club, Cunningham Hill Infant School, Heathlands School, Maple School, Marlborough Science School, Nicholas Breakspear School, Sandringham School, St Albans High School, St Columba’s College Prep School, Verulam High School, Verulam School, Wheatfields Junior School.
Phil Corrigan added, “Well done to all these schools for taking part and inspiring the amazing young people to get involved… It’s not every school child who gets to see their work on the walls of a gallery! Congratulations to our winners for 2019 and a huge thank you to all the children and their teachers. We are delighted that so many people have been inspired by this competition and look forward to the Maltings Art Prize 2020!”