How you can help celebrate student artists

Hello everyone,

The Shine School Media Awards has a series of categories that are aimed at young people who contribute to their school newspaper or magazine by devising the visuals that bring the stories on those pages to life.

As a graphic designer myself, one of the reasons I got involved with the Awards was to encourage young artists. I am thinking here of talented students who love to draw, paint, make or capture images.

A series of our awards focus on visuals made specifically for their school media project and each recognises artists who transform their classmates’ journalism into attractive, compelling layouts.

Winning a Shine Award offers national recognition at a crucial moment in their academic career, encouraging nascent talent and providing a valuable element to college applications, when that time comes.

Here are three of the key creative categories;

Best Cartoon
Sometimes overlooked, clever cartoons with satirical bite are a staple of newspapers, offering sharp insight and commentary, as well as poking fun at powerful figures. Cartoons can make a deft point or even create controversy, but always provide texture and depth to a publication. It’s prestigious too: our best cartoon award is judged and sponsored by London’s Cartoon Museum.

Best Photograph
We’re fascinated by the way that young photographers see the world, capturing a fleeting moment in a style that could be either contrived or inspired. Our Best Photograph award is judged by the team at Getty Images, who comb our entries for outstanding photography. We understand that not every student has access to high quality cameras, so it’s worth knowing that winners in recent years have won for brilliant reportage pictures taken on a phone.

Best Illustration
When young artists submit their work to us, we never know what’s coming next. Invariably we’re blown away by handmade visuals that could be completely abstract or observational portraiture. Judged by the team behind illustration agency The Artworks, this year’s winner was a surreal mix of both of these ideas, creating a completely original and compelling visual that was on the cover of one of our entries.

My message to you – and your students – is that we’re here to recognise and reward the next generation of young satirists, photographers and illustrators. These categories are growing in popularity year-on-year, and our judges observe that the most successful entries find a clever blend of storytelling and visual appeal.

Without art, a newspaper or magazine is diminished, reduced to text alone. When students work together on both the written and visual parts of their project, thinking about the ways in which subject and style could be combined, the pages leap into life.

If your students aren’t sure where to start with creating editorial narratives of this kind, our website has a wealth of material which they might find helpful. Take a look –

• Illustration and artwork
• Photography

Our competition is run by the Stationers’ Foundation, founded by one the City of London’s oldest Livery Companies, the Stationers’ – and is always free to enter. Publications need not be printed, a digital edition will do just fine – we even have a dedicated digital edition award.

Remember that entering is free and easy. Just register with us today and we can provide guidance and encouragement from now til our entry deadline next May.

• Register for next year’s awards here

Best wishes,

Richard
Chair, Shine School Media Awards