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FEATURE


2010 UK COMPETITION


Arts & Minds

Celebrating Cultural Diversity in the United Kingdom

Showcasing young people’s talent

Talented young artists and writers demonstrated the importance of equality and cultural diversity at the Awards Ceremony of the NASUWT’s Arts & Minds competition.

Challenged to use creative writing and art to express their feelings about diversity, respect and discrimination, over 1,000 entries were received from children and young people from across the UK for the competition, which is timed to coincide with Black History Month.

Mairead Flannery, a Year 9 pupil from Redhill School in Stourbridge, was crowned the overall winner at a prestigious awards ceremony in London.

Mr Gove described Mairead’s entry, which shows two faces in close-up to reflect the diversity and unity that binds us all, as “an amazing piece of art.”

He added: “It is beautiful and thought-provoking and goes to the heart of what Arts & Minds is about.”

The Secretary of State has asked for every category winner’s entry to be displayed at the Department for Education.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb [bottom right] presented the prize to Mairead at the ceremony.

Mairead described herself as “over the moon” to scoop the overall prize and explained more about the inspiration behind her winning entry.

She said: “We were talking about racism in class and I thought about how common it is for people to be racist against certain groups of people.

“Something as simple as how someone looks can cause such big problems, which is not right.”

Mairead’s art teacher, Justine Chamberlain-Page, explained why she encouraged her students to enter the competition, which is now in its seventh year.

She said: “I thought this was a great opportunity to discuss diversity and community cohesion with the students in a creative way. Although I knew Mairead was fantastic and I thought she would have a good chance, I never dreamed she would win. I am really proud of her.”

Each of the 12 finalists and their schools received prizes and certificates to mark their achievement.

Announcing the winners, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, explained why the Arts & Minds competition is such an important event in the Union’s calendar. She said: “It is very important to the NASUWT that we take the opportunity to celebrate the wonderful work that goes on in schools and the inspiration and commitment provided by teachers, headteachers and support staff.

“Year on year we are inspired to carry on with this competition because of the talent that comes forward from our children and young people, which makes this event such a pleasure to be involved with.”

President Obama, the rise of the English Defence League (EDL) and the hosting of this year’s World Cup in South Africa were all sources of inspiration for the other finalists.

Pupils from West Heath Primary School in Birmingham produced ‘President in Pennies’, which depicted a collage of President Obama made from coins and was inspired by learning about the British monarchy and global leaders.

Birmingham was also represented by two finalists from King Edward VI High School for Girls, Chloe Murphy and Sara Lo Polito, who were shortlisted for art and creative writing respectively.

(Continued on page 15...)


Overall winner

Mairead’s entry, entitled ‘Human Diversity’, won the individual artwork award in the secondary school category and was then selected as the overall winner by Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, from 12 individual category winners.


“Year on year we are inspired to carry on with this competition because of the talent that comes forward from our children and young people… “


(Photo captioned: Competition winner Mairead Flannery with Schools Minister Nick Gibb.)

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