The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize, London 2025: Finalists Announced

The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) is delighted to announce the names of the 30 young artists shortlisted as finalists for The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize, sponsored by Jurit LLP.

This annual award, sponsored by law firm, Jurit LLP, 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 the 156 entries, from 32 schools were assessed by a judging panel comprising professionals from different facets of the British art world:

• Howard Bilton, Founder and Chairman of SAF
• Melanie Gerlis, Art market columnist for the Financial Times
• Nick Hornby, Artist
• Kevin Francis Gray, Artist
• Tamila Kerimova, Senior International Specialist, Senior Director – Modern & Contemporary Art at Phillips
• Leila Maleki, Collector and Philanthropist
• Nicole Schoeni, Contemporary art collector, dealer and patron of the arts
• Joe Kennedy, Co-Founder and director of Unit Gallery

Official Exhibition Venue Partner Phillips will host the 30 shortlisted artworks in a Finalists Exhibition at their London headquarters at 30 Berkeley Square from 9–12 December 2025.

The overall winner of The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize, London 2025 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.

To boost public engagement and increase exposure for the students, exhibition visitors and our online audience are 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 12:00hrs GMT on 10 December 2025.

Winners are to be announced at a private event on 10 December.

Furthermore, students have their works in 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, concluded:

“We are proud to once again support the Sovereign Art Foundation London Students Prize. Sponsoring this initiative allows us to champion and celebrate the outstanding contemporary artistic abilities of young people from across London. The arts are a vital component of the UK education system, providing students with essential avenues for self-expression and communication. We warmly congratulate every talented participant in this year’s 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 2026 Global Students Prize.

The full list of finalists can be found here.