Finalists Announced for The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize, London 2023

The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) is delighted to announce the names of the 20 young artists shortlisted as finalists for The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize, London 2023, sponsored by Jurit LLP.

This annual award, which we are delighted to sponsor, is designed to celebrate the importance of art in the education system and recognise the quality of artworks produced by secondary school students citywide.

Teachers at all secondary schools in London were invited to nominate up to ten of their best art students to submit artworks to the competition, online. This year a record of 185 entries were received and assessed by a judging panel comprising professionals from different facets of the British art world:

• Conrad Shawcross, British Artist
• Howard Bilton, Founder and Chairman of SAF
• Nicky Carter, Director/Curator of The Groucho Club’s Art, Artist
• Melanie Gerlis, Art market columnist for the Financial Times
• Tamila Kerimova, Director, Senior Specialist, 20th Century & Contemporary Art at Phillips

Official Exhibition Venue Partner Phillips will host the 20 shortlisted artworks in a Finalists Exhibition at their London headquarters at 30 Berkeley Square from 12–15 December 2023.

The overall winner of The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize, London 2023 will be determined when the judging panel examine the shortlisted works in person at the Finalists Exhibition; selecting one student to receive the Judges’ Prize of £800, their school will also be awarded £2,000, to the benefit of a greater number of pupils.

Judge, Tamila Kerimova, Director, Senior Specialist, 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Phillips, said:

“Phillips is thrilled to collaborate with The Sovereign Art Foundation and proud to host the London Students Prize Finalists’ exhibition for the fourth consecutive year. Our ongoing partnership is dedicated to celebrating the significance of art in education and supporting the Sovereign Art Foundation’s mission to promote budding artists through the Student Prize. At Phillips, our objective is to discover and present exceptional artwork, and a significant part of this is encouraging the upcoming generation to continue nurturing their artistic talents. As we witnessed in last year’s exhibition and in the years before, secondary-school students create outstanding and high-quality art deserving of recognition. We look forward to welcoming visitors to explore the Students Prize Finalists exhibition in our Berkeley Square galleries this December.”

To boost public engagement and increase exposure for the students, exhibition visitors and our online audience are also invited to cast a vote for their favourite finalist artwork, the most popular of which will receive a Public Vote Prize of £400 (and their school £1,000).

Online votes will also be accepted from the general public via web gallery with voting closing at 18:00hrs GMT on 15 December 2023.

Furthermore, students can opt to enter their works into a silent auction – the proceeds of which are split between the artist and Foundation – who will use funds raised to further their charitable aims.

This year money raised will be donated onto Latimer Community Art Therapy (LCAT) a grass roots community organisation which provides accessible professional mental health support through art psychotherapy as well as community services and activities, to support creativity, physical, social, and emotional development.

Jo Summers, Partner in the Private Wealth & Tax team at Jurit LLP, said of the initiative:

“We are delighted to support and recognise the incredible contemporary artistic talent of the young people of London through our sponsorship of the Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize.

“Art is an integral part of the UK education system, affording young people an invaluable way to communicate and express themselves. We celebrate the importance of this, and the talent of all those who have taken part in this competition.”

SAF runs twelve Student Prizes around the world, the first of which was established in 2012 in Hong Kong, followed by Bahrain, Chester, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Malta & Gozo, Mauritius, Portugal and Singapore. The winners from London will go up against the winners from the other prizes in contention for the 2024 Global Students Prize.

The full list of finalists can be found here.