An online public vote to find Liverpool City Region’s best young artists opened on Friday 16th April and continues until 9th May 2021. This year over 1100 pupils from 90 schools have entered the dot-art Schools competition and the shortlisted students from each school are now hoping for your votes to win a place in the 9th annual exhibition.
The online inter-school art contest gives both Year 5 and Year 9 pupils across the Liverpool City Region and its near neighbours the opportunity to showcase their artistic talents online and have their work shown in a public exhibition. At this stage, school staff, friends, family and the general public can vote online for their favourite piece, with the top art work from each school included in the final exhibition; details of which, due to the current coronavirus restrictions, will be announced soon.
dot-art Schools’ project manager Carolyn Murray comments:
“We’re delighted that a record – breaking number of schools managed to submit artwork this year, particularly as most of the works were created by students at home during lockdown. We purposely don’t set a theme for the competition artwork and this year a broad range of topics are explored, including some moving entries focussing specifically on COVID 19. It is truly inspiring to see children and young people using their creativity to express themselves, especially in response to this uniquely challenging situation. Please support them by placing a vote for your favourite.”
The judges have narrowed it down to their top three entries from each school ready for the public to vote for their favourite. The shortlisting panel is made up of representatives from some of the region’s most respected artists and cultural institutions. This year we welcomed new judges onto the panel: Matthew Pateman, Head of Creative Arts at our partnership institution Edge Hill University; Kirsty Thomas, founder of Tom Pigeon design studio and The Make Bank which tackles creative poverty in schools; Amber Akaunu, artist and co-founder of multi-award winning magazine, Root-ed supporting Black, Asian, and PoC creatives; and Emma Bush, Head of Programmes at Curious Minds, the Arts Council England, Bridge Organisation for the North West Region. They join Sandra Penketh, responsible for National Museums Liverpool’s fine and decorative art collections, and Tony Heaton OBE, Chair of Shape Arts on the judging panel.
Sandra Penketh explains
“I was so impressed by the quality of the young people’s art work and their wonderful creativity. It was so hard to narrow down the selection. All the young artists who submitted work are stars!”
The artwork with the most votes from each participating school will win a place in the dot-art Schools 2021 exhibition. The competition’s overall winners will then be chosen by special guest judge Susan M Coles and announced at an online prize-giving ceremony and exhibition launch in June. dot-art Schools is supported by Art Council England and our new partners Edge Hill University, Faculty of Education.
View the shortlist and vote online for your favourite artwork at
http://schools.dot-art.com/browse-schools
Voting closes at midnight on Sunday 9th May 2021.
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