The Norfolk Churches Trust’s Primary school Art Competition exceeded every expectation. With an extraordinary 2,657 entries from children across Norfolk and 600 artworks exhibited in the Crypt Gallery at Norwich Cathedral, the competition became far more than an art competition, it became an opportunity for thousands of young people to discover, explore and celebrate their local churches.
By encouraging children to visit their churches, study their history and architecture, and express what they saw through art, the competition helped foster a new appreciation of Norfolk’s remarkable heritage. Many children, teachers and families told us how much the experience had meant to them, reminding us that caring for our churches is not simply about preserving beautiful historic buildings, but about inspiring the next generation to value and protect them.
One winning pupil captured the spirit of the competition perfectly: “This project has helped me learn much more about my local church… It’s been a great project and a really memorable experience.” Those words reflect exactly what the Norfolk Churches Trust hoped to achieve.
The prize giving was a wonderful celebration of the children’s creativity, with prizes presented by Dame Emma Bridgewater, congratulations to all of our winners. The winning pieces of art are shown below, along with some of the lovely comments that were written in our visitors book at the exhibition. Which recorded that our visitors came from not only from Norfolk, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire and as far afield as Florida and Dubai. We hope that those visitors from outside the county were impressed by our young artists and our church architecture.
‘I felt absolutely stunned from your efforts: 50 years celebration energising children in sketching and drawing and what a lovely sight of some incredible sketches where children brough out their imaginations and attention to detail when drawing. Just Brilliant!‘
‘Such a lovely exhibition great work! And lovely to explore all the churches of the area.’
‘It is heartening to think about many of this children and one hopes all of the churches will still be going in the 22nd century.’
‘So wonderful to celebrate the achievement of so many children – what a future there is in art in Norfolk’.
‘I really enjoyed looking at other people’s artwork as well as showing family mine. Thank you for the competition.‘
Brilliant display of children’s creativity, much to be celebrated!
Year 3 and 4 2nd Prize: Katya – Seething & Mundham Primary School
What a thoroughly lovely exhibition. Congrats to all involved promoting such valuable ecclesiastical and heritage assets.
A wonderful exhibition in a splendid venue. Fantastic creativity and observational drawing! A great opportunity for the children – we hope to do it again.
‘Brilliant exhibition and so inspirational.’
Amazing insight into the talent of Norfolk schools. A difficult job to chose the winners. All well done.
Amazing Art! Well done everyone. Very proud mum.
Extraordinary & wonderful. Such skills! Thank you children.
So inspiring, beautiful work by these talented young people.
Wonderfully creative work. I hope the children carry on painting.
Good to see a different perspective.
Wonderful so see The Crypt floor to ceiling with so much colour and creativity.
What a fabulous event to celebrate the talent of our young people, recognising the value of our culture and communities. What an achievement.
A very difficult job for the judges! So much artistic interest and so much variety to appraise!
When I found my drawing I was very happy and excited. At school I drew it but had no clue it was so good! Thankyou for my opportunity!
We had such a good time creating pictures of our church, the class have been so keen to find out how they’d got on! It was an opportunity to look at our town church with a different perspective.
Thank you for putting my art up!
Lovely to bring our son to view his work.
Very proud mummy
Happy to see children’s art works. Unique (in a good way) views…
Whilst these young artists, named above, were deserving winners, the judges agreed that the standard of work across all 2,657 entries was truly exceptional. Every child who took part should be immensely proud of their contribution. We would also like to extend our thanks to every child who took part and the teachers who really supported this project.
Rosabelle Batt, Chairman of the Norfolk Churches Trust, said:
“This exhibition was never just about winning. It was about every child having the opportunity to create something they were proud of, to see their work celebrated, and to build a lasting connection with the remarkable churches that have stood at the heart of Norfolk’s communities for centuries. These children are the future custodians of our heritage, and if this competition has inspired them to value and cherish these extraordinary buildings for generations to come, then it has achieved something truly special.”
Below are a selection of images of the prizegiving evening on 17th June.
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