The winners of the John Byrne National Drawing Competition were officially announced by the artist himself at a special event in Paisley today.
John joined children and young people from schools across Scotland at the opening of a special exhibition of the young artists’ work in Paisley Museum and Art Gallery to hear the winners of the competition being announced.
First year pupil Anushka Waugh Glover from Harris Academy, Dundee was named in first place for her black and white line drawing.
Primary 7 pupils Ana Stewart and Keira Lee Donaghy from New Lanark Primary School came in second and third place respectively with drawings that really caught John’s eye.
Four runners up were highly commended for their artwork including Emily Watson (P7) from St Mark’s Primary, Barrhead, Heather Leiper (P4) from St John’s Primary, Hamilton, Jane Ambler (S3) from Tynecastle High, Edinburgh and Robbie Bennett (P7) from Castlehill Primary, Bearsden.
John Byrne, said: “I’m really pleased to announce the winners of this year’s John Byrne National Drawing Competition and I’d like to offer my congratulations to Anushka, Ana and Keira, and all the other entrants who took part.
“I was really impressed by the overall standard of work we received and to see so many of Scotland’s children and young people spending time drawing in school and at home. The aim of the competition was to encourage them to use their imagination and be creative, and I think we’ve managed to achieve that.
clearly be identified as ‘drawings’. A suggested theme for the young artists to use as inspiration was ‘A Day in My Life’.
The judging panel, headed by John, consisted of Ron Cowie, Senior Education Officer at Education Scotland, Lorna Macdonald, Principal Officer for Arts and Creative Learning at Edinburgh City Council, Strathclyde University Art and Design Lecturer Wilma Eaton and Fiona McGregor, Art and Design Lecturer from Glasgow University. Three of the five judges are members of the art and design national working group. Judging of the artwork took place at Strathclyde University who kindly donated the space free of charge
