art competition
Tree-mendous prizes for young artists
C
hildren from schools across the Newcastle borough have attended a special awards ceremony at Keele Hall recently after impressing judges in Newcastle Borough Council's annual painting competition. Young artists were rewarded for their impressive creative talents. A total of 37 winners in the council s annual Britain in Bloom children s painting competition picked up certificates and prizes from Newcastle Borough Mayor Gill Burnett. The theme of this year s competition, organised as part of the borough s successful Newcastle in Bloom campaign, was Bloomin Treemendous in recognition of the council s Plant a Bloomin Tree initiative which is creating carbon capture green spaces in urban areas to help mitigate the effects of climate change, contributing towards its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. There were a total of 608 entries from 15 primary, secondary and special educational needs schools in Newcastle-under-Lyme,
including two from individuals. The overall winner of the under seven s category was Clark Davis, aged five, from the Demetae Academy in Newcastle who impressed the judges with his dramatic painting of silver birch trees as the dark background really contrasts with the colour of the birch. Amber Smith, from Thursfield Primary School in Harriseahead, was the main winner of the over ten s section. The ten-year-old s entry showed hands gifting a tree to the world which linked in with the Plant a Bloomin Tree campaign. Clark and Amber s masterpieces were stars of the show at a recent exhibition held at the redeveloped Brampton Museum. Newcastle-under-Lyme is once again competing in the small city category of Heart of England in Bloom after establishing an unrivalled reputation in the horticultural contest over more than 30 years. The painting competition is sponsored by The Art Studio in Newcastle and Alton Towers.
