Calling all UK Art Teachers

Art Teachers are invited by the the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) to submit watercolour artworks by their students aged between 11 and 18 for the RI Coronation Award which celebrates excellence in your artists painting in watercolour and water-based media.

The RI Coronation Award

This is the third year of the RI Coronation Award, introduced in 2024 at the first annual exhibition following the coronation of King Charles III.

What you need to know

• This is the link to the page on the RI website providing information.
• Entries to last year's competition came from schools all over the UK
• The competition is open to school students only - aged between 11 and 18
• All artwork submissions must be in watercolour or water-soluble media (eg inks, acrylic)
• The deadline for entries is 22 December 2025.
• The Winner and two runners-up will be announced in February 2026.

For full details you need to write to ricoronationaward@gmail.com

The prizes are as follows:

• a materials bursary of £800 to the winning school
• art materials (voucher) to the value of £100 to the First Prize Winner
• art materials (voucher) to the value of £50 to each of the two Runners-Up
• Certificates of Merit will also be awarded to up to a further ten entrants who the judges consider worthy of recognition.

The three prizewinners will 

• have reproductions of their paintings exhibited at the 214th Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours at the Mall Galleries in London, March 25th until April 11th 2026.
• will also be invited to have their prizes presented to them by the President of the RI and her guest speaker at the Private View of the Exhibition, which will be held at the Mall Galleries, London on Tuesday March 24th 2026 at 6.30 pm.

This year the prize has been generously sponsored by The Borg Scott Charity

[NOTE:  Oddly, I had difficulty finding a link to this award on the RI website (it's under Exhibitions). A link to the Call for Entries on the front page - for both the Open Exhibition - and this competition would be useful. The website currently looks as if it could do with an early spring clean and update! I got my information from the recent post on their Instagram account]

RBA Rising Stars 2025 at the ROSL and three prizewinners

Earlier this month I attended the Private View and Awards Announcement for the RBA Rising Stars Exhibition at the Royal Overseas League.

View of the PV for the RBA Rising Stars Exhibition 2025 - speeches are getting underway

The Rising Stars art competition does two things:

• it produces a longlist of c.40 young artists (under the age of 35) who become semi-finalisrs for the Rome Scholarship who will have an opportunity to exhibit their artwork in an exhibition at the Royal Overseas League.
• reviewing the artwork and the applications also enables the identification of a shortlist of three artists who then go through a further process of being interviewed for the chance to win the Rome Scholarship - which is certainly a prize any young artist would think worth having 

The 3 Selected Finalists are advised to bring with them for interview any sketchbooks or journals which show their exploration of techniques or development of their ideas

The RBA Rome Scholarship

The competition is held as an Open Call by the Royal Society of British Artists.

• It's open to artists under the age of 35. Those applying need to be:
• living and working in the UK and 
• produce figurative artwork which can be a painting, drawing, printmaking or sculpture. 

This is the link to the Rome Scholarship 2025 webpage. 

It's officially known as The Marianne Von Werther Memorial Award - but in shorthand is also known as the "RBA Rome Scholarship"

The winner's prize comprises

• £5000 prize money
• Four weeks accommodation in a self-contained apartment, situated within a wonderful and extensive walled garden in the grounds of the Sala Uno gallery - a prestigious gallery in the centre of Rome
• Studio space - available within the gallery
• Two meals per day, provided at a nearby restaurant
• Return flights to Rome

The two runners-up also receive £1000 

Plus all three candidates will have one work included in the RBA Annual Exhibition in 2026.

Three Finalists

Here are the three artists who have been selected for a further review of their artwork and sketchbooks as part of a portfolio review / interview.

By way of a preview as to the challenge of the choice for this Scholarship, I will say that the last two winners of this award (Joshua Donkor 2024 and Aelfred Hillman 2023) are both producing exceptional art which is selling phenomenally well.

Below are the three young finalists for 2025 - who were announced at the PV

• TF Ashley @tfashleyart an artist and illustrator based in Oxford, UK. His recent work focuses on large-scale drawing in a wide variety of styles and traditional media and explores our shared human experience, engaging with themes such as identity, migration, and socio-political realities.
• Katie Kaur @katiekaur.art- a half-Indian British artist based in London, currently studying for an MA Painting at the Royal College of Art. Her work seeks a visual language that bridges the material and sensorial, the ephemeral and the physical.
• Ken Nwadiogbu @kennwadiogbu -  a Nigerian-born multidisciplinary visual artist, based in London. He's a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London (MA Painting).  He creates innovative conceptual drawings and paintings on various surfaces as he engages in multidisciplinary modes. He has also exhibited internationally.
  

The three finalists with the RBA team

The three artworks by the finalists for the Rome Scholarship

Young Artists Summer Show at the Royal Academy of Arts

Did you know that the Royal Academy of Arts has a Summer Show for young people?

No? Neither did I! 

Find out more about the show below and on the RA website https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/

What's the purpose of the Young Artists' Summer Show?

Taking inspiration from the annual Summer Exhibition, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is an opportunity for young artists aged 5 - 19 years to exhibit their work online and on-site at the Royal Academy.

The project is generously supported by Robin Hambro, a passionate advocate for the importance of access to art, and the benefits of encouraging the arts, for children and young people.

Are there any prizes?

There are prizes each year (Take a look at the 2020 prize winning artworks)

• for two inspiring artworks 
• from each key stage

Award winners are chosen by the President of the Royal Academy.

The public can also vote for their favourite artwork in our annual People’s Choice Award. 

some of the artwork in the RA Young Artists Summer Show 2020

How to enter

Who can enter?

• children and young people aged 5 - 19 studying in the UK and British schools overseas.
• collaborative artwork entries are welcome - and and there is no limit to the number of students involved.

What can I enter?

• Each student can submit up to three artworks of any type e.g. a painting, sculpture, photograph, installation or video piece. 
• Your artwork can be made of any materials. 
• There is no theme so artworks can be of any subject.

What does it cost to enter?

• The competition is completely free.

How do I enter?

The entry process works as follows:

• entry is online - you cannot submit artwork by post.
• a teacher first needs to register your school
• once that is done, artwork can be submitted 
• by a teacher or parent/guardian if you are under 12
• by the student if you are aged 13 or over

What do I need to submit?

You need to upload images of your artwork - with some text.

Images need to be 

• files are 5MB or less
• one of the following formats: JPG, PNG, GIF.
• If you want to submit a file that is not a JPG, PNG or GIF, you can use a file converter website to change your file so it will upload.

You need to describe your artwork as follows:

• title of the artwork
• a description of what the work is about and why you made it

How selection works

Each artwork will be seen by a panel of judges - made up of panel of artists and art professionals. 

Everyone who submits artworks will hear from the RA by the end of May.

There are two sets of judges

• one for artworks made by primary students and 
• one for artworks made by secondary school students. 

When the judges make their selections, they choose where the artwork will be seen i.e.

• which artworks will be shown online and 
• which will be shown at the Royal Academy.