Thirteen talented young artists received their prizes for winning entries in the The Harpur Trust Children’s Art Competition 2022. Selected from 25 local schools, the winners were celebrated at a prize giving event with exhibition preview at The Higgins Bedford.
The competition runs with a different theme every two years, in partnership with The Higgins Bedford and Bedford Borough Council, and is open to all local school children and young people aged 4-18. Four Categories and the Harpur Trust Choice Award are awarded, with prizes for the winning artists and their schools. Four artists led workshops with the children exploring different techniques before they unleashed their imagination to envision ‘Future Bedford’.
This year’s awards were kindly presented by: Deputy Lieutenant Elizabeth Toogood, who awarded category one, 4-7 years old; Mayor Dave Hodgson, who awarded category two, 7-11 years old; Mohammad Yasin, Harpur Trust Patron and Labour MP for Bedford & Kempston, who awarded category three, 11-14 years old; and Ammaar Shaikh (Everyday Heroes Young Achiever award winner) who awarded category four, 14-16 years old. Chair of the Harpur Trust Murray Stewart awarded the Harpur Trust Choice award.
The entries were highly imaginative, and the judges had a difficult decision narrowing down their favourites! This year’s winners are……
In third place:
Sara, Livingstone Primary School - Category 1
Maya, Scott Primary School - Category 2
Charlotte, Mark Rutherford School - Category 3
Ewan, Grange Academy - Category 4
In second place:
Daniela, St James’ CE VA Primary School - Category 1
Petru, Castle Newnham Primary School - Category 2
Olivia, Mark Rutherford School - Category 3
Allen, Grange Academy - Category 4
In first place:
Nancy, Kymbrook Primary School - Category 1
Annabelle, Scott Primary School - Category 2
Louis, Mark Rutherford School - Category 3
Ashlee, Grange Academy - Category 4
And The Harpur Trust Choice award went to Jessica, Edith Cavell Primary School.
The young prize winners were invited to the stage to say a few words about why they had chosen to draw their piece, before collecting their prize. Despite their young ages, and the large audience, they were very articulate and proved to be the highlight of the evening.
Ciara Harper, Communications Manager, The Harpur Trust said, “We are incredibly grateful to all the teachers and parents who supported these young artists to enter the competition. A 100 pictures have been selected by the exhibition curator at The Higgins Bedford to be on display in the William Harpur gallery for 'Future Bedford'. One of the best part of the competition has been seeing how excited the children are to see their artwork on the walls like 'real artwork' - which these are!"
'Future Bedford' is free, family friendly and open to the public until 4 September 2022. Opening times are available from The Higgins Bedford website - download
exhibition_guide_2022-web.pdf
All of the competition entries feature in our online exhibition until Autumn 2023.