Competition for Young Writers and Artists 2023
The aim of the Competition for Young Writers and Artists is to encourage young people to engage in visual arts and creative writing, to celebrate their creativity and originality. In 2023, each young artist and writer was invited to create a work of art or write a poem, short story or report on the theme of ‘Celebrations!’.
The Fowey Festival Competition for Young Writers and Artists is an established annual competition for all children and young people living in Cornwall age 4-16. Details are sent to all schools and can be found on the Fowey Festival website as well as being publicised through local news publications. This year we invited children and young people to create their own original story, poem, piece of factual writing or picture and enter our competition to become the Fowey Festival Young Writer or Young Artist of the Year 2023. The challenge was to produce an original picture, poem, short story or factual piece of writing on the theme of Celebrations!.
We were delighted that local writers Emily Barr and Craig Barr Green agreed to make a short video to inspire children and young people to write high quality stories, poems and reports.
This year we received a magnificent 386 entries from children and young people across Cornwall.
Trustees are grateful to the group of local artists, poets, writers and teachers who have judged each entry with care and consideration. There was a tremendous range of stories, poems, factual writing and artwork demonstrating the wonderful and vivid imaginations of our children and young people. As you can imagine it took a great deal of discussion before the judges were able to agree on our prize winners!
On Sat April 29th we hosted an awards presentation, celebrating the work of our wonderful budding artists, poets and writers. At this celebratory event we also awarded the prestigious Young Writer of the Year 2023 and Young Artist of the Year 2023. The Artist of the Year 2023 was chosen by the general public who visited the Fowey River Gallery during the school Easter Holidays and voted on the finalists work, which was on display in the gallery.
Final 2023 competition results
Please download the following document to see the final results:
With heartfelt thanks
- To Helen Williams, for providing us with the wonderful and inspirational drawing ‘Celebrations!‘. Each year, Helen takes part in the Festival Art Trail, where her wonderful work can be viewed.
- To all schools, teachers, and families for their continuing support.
- To the generosity of our sponsors: Waterstones, the Atishoo Gallery in Charlestown, the Fowey River Gallery, The Arts Society Bodmin, and The Fowey Hall Hotel.
- To all our judging panels for their time and expertise.
