Write on Art

The third cycle of the Write on Art prize launched in autumn 2019 in partnership with Art UK. The judges for the 2019–20 cycle were broadcaster and historian Sir Simon Schama; art critic and Guardian contributor Hettie Judah; Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Simon Groom; and the Young Adult novelist Karen Gregory. The deadline for the prize was extended to 31 July as a result of the uncertainty of schooling in the spring. As a result of the deadline extension and a targeted approach to marketing the prize during this cycle, Write on Art saw the number of submitted essays increase by 152 per cent. In addition, the shortlisting committee and judges noted a marked increase in the overall quality of the essays, making the shortlisting and judging process even more challenging than in previous years.

The winners of the 2019–20 cycle were:

In the Years 12/13 category:

First place: Florence Wolter, on Woman at a Window by Edgar Degas

Second place: Izzy Anjani, on Standing Figure with African Masks by Claudette Johnson

Runners Up: Iris Watson, on Yellow Islands by Jackson Pollock; Eleanor Harvey, on She’s a Leyland Lady, 1956 by Walter Lambert; Sasha Minnis, on Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Artemisia Gentileschi

In the Years 10/11 category:

First place: Ruby Langan-Hughes, on The Broken Mirror by Jean-Baptiste Greuze

Second place: Imogen Hodgkins, on Cottage and Figure I by Jack Simcock

Runners Up: Ore Gazit, on Jerusalem, Looking to Mount Scopus by David Bomberg; Alicia Doran, on International Klein Blue by Yves Klein; Dasha Shapovalova, on Interior Scene with Clive Bell and Duncan Grant

Drinking Wine by Vanessa Bell