Emma Haworth wins Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2010

Emma Haworth has won the the £10,000 1st Prize in the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2010 for her painting of Snowy Woods.  Trees seem to be a theme for the prizewinners as Wladyslaw Mirecki was awarded the 2nd Prize (£6,000) for his image Fallen Branches.

Snowy Woods, 85 x 112 cm, ink & watercolour on paper by Emma Haworth
Winner of the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2010

This is is the competition's 23rd year and it's the largest watercolour competition in the UK.  It's also one of the only remaining major prizes to celebrate the diversity and beauty of the undervalued medium of watercolour.

Emma studied for a degree in Fine Art at Falmouth and then an MA in Drawing at at Wimbledon College of Art in 2000.  She's now based in London.  She has exhibited internationally in the USA and Canada and held solo shows at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery in London.  Last year she exhibited in the 2009 RWS/ Sunday Times Watercolour Competition and was also awarded a Runner-Up Prize in the 2009 Lynn Painter- Stainers Prize.

Emma says about her prize-winning work:

The snow had stayed in the woods for longer than in the busy roads and streets surrounding them. Entering the wood the traffic noise disappeared and the trees felt silent and magical, the atmosphere similar to a Cathedral. If you kept still though you realised it was full of activity. I tried to capture these elements in my painting.
Emma Haworth, 2010

Other prizes were awarded as follows:

• Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize (£1,500) - Gordon McDowall
• Penguin Classics Prize for Cover Art (£500 and a commission to create the cover art for a penguin classic) - Akash Bhatt

The Mall Galleries will hold the exhibition of 107 works from 1 - 7 November 2010 at the Mall Galleries, in London (10am-5pm daily. Admission free) and will then tour.

Links: Art Competitions in the UK - Resources for Artists