Harin Turrell, now in Year 13, won first prize in the Year 12 & 13 category of the Write on Art competition over the summer. The Write on Art competition is organised by Art UK and the Paul Mellon Foundation. The first prize includes £500 and being published on the organisers’ website as well as in The Art Newspaper.

Harin’s piece was about Blotter by Peter Doig, and you can read the entry here.

The prize ceremony was held at the Paul Mellon Foundation in July, with over 60 shortlisted students and members of their families in attendance. The ceremony was followed by a picnic on the lawns and was a fitting celebration of the essays submitted by over 170 entrants from across the country.

In speaking about her fantastic achievement, Harin said:

"I find that essay competitions can often be both daunting and limiting for students as they often provide a set of very particular questions that are enormously difficult to answer; yet, Write on Art provided me with the exciting opportunity to simply write about an artwork that intrigued me, which I found to be freeing, but still educational. The award giving ceremony happened to coincide with my birthday, and took place at the start of the summer holiday at the Paul Mellon Centre, where I was fortunate enough to meet other contestants and share a lovely picnic with them in Bedford Square. I wasn't expecting to receive anything, so was very shocked to hear the announcement that I had won. It was a fantastic experience, and I would highly encourage all students to apply, whether they are taking art history or not."  

Val McDermid, best-selling crime novelist and one of the judges noted:

'The overwhelming impression I took away from reading the Write on Art entries was the passionate engagement of the fledgling critics. They'd done their homework to contextualise the works they chose but what shone through was genuine responses that went far beyond a dry academic exercise. We're constantly told that young people are only willing to engage with constantly shifting digital content – these reactions demonstrate how wrong a judgement that is. I came away feeling more optimistic about the future of art.'

Two Art History Link-Up students, a charity supported by JAGS and founded by a member of JAGS staff, were also shortlisted for the prize. Avesta and Evie are students at the London Academy of Excellence and are continuing for a second year of Art History A level at the National Gallery and Wallace Collection with Art History link-up. Both students will enter their EPQs with JAGS and sit their Art History A levels at the school too. You can read more about the work that Art History Link-Up do here.

A huge congratulations to Harin, and to all of those shortlisted.