There were some excellent entries from pupils across the school for this year’s Ruth Bayley Illustration Award. The brief for this year’s competition was designed to complement a recent exhibition at The Whitworth Art Gallery by internationally acclaimed artist Alice Kettle. We were thrilled that, not only did Alice agree to be our judge, but she incorporated the competition entries into her project.

Deciding upon the winners Alice said,

“It was a very hard choice as all the works were excellent and showed invention and talented handling of different media. There are obviously some very expert artists here. I would encourage all of them to continue making, drawing and telling stories as they show such creativity. I was really captured by the works and thoroughly enjoyed looking at the different approaches.”

Congratulations to the category winners, Maya (KS3), Ilena  (KS4) and Niharika (KS5). The highly commended entries were Scarlett H, Mallika K, Kenzey M and Meli H. The Art Department would like to thank and congratulate all girls who took part in the competition and for taking the time to create such personal, skilled and creative pieces of artwork. Very well done to all.

The overall winner of the Ruth Bayley Trophy was Sonali from Year 8. Alice Kettle described her entry as “a very sophisticated artwork, sensitively graduated with colour washes and drawing. The reflection of the tree in the eye opens up the depth into an interior world, with the tree hovering at the centre. The way the colour is handled creates this optical, mysterious reflected and magnetic space. Very well done indeed.”

The Ruth Bayley Illustration Award was set up in memory of Ruth Bayley, a former pupil who became a successful illustrator of children’s books. The executors of her will were so impressed with the standard of work in the first two years of the competition, that they donated a substantial amount of additional money to the School, some of which has been used for this year’s prizes.