THE first ever Wharfedale Art Competition was held during the course of this year’s Ilkley Art Trail. Ghyll Royd School joined over 60 artists exhibiting in the trail, attracting over 100 eager schoolchildren and art enthusiasts during the four-day event.

Artwork from Ashlands Primary, Ben Rhydding Primary, Burley Oaks Primary, Moorfield School and Ghyll Royd School pupils was displayed around the Multipurpose Hall for viewers to marvel at the work of young, budding artists. Ghyll Royd received an eclectic mix of 2D, 3D, Textile and Drawing submissions from the participating schools, which provided variety and intrigue for the competition’s first year.

Three local artists, Jo Tinker, Kerry Stoker and Linda Dewart kindly gave their time to come along and judge each category, choosing a first, second and third place for each – which proved a very difficult decision process! The judges had a lot of fun seeing what the children had produced during their school art lessons, and were overwhelmed with the quality of work.

Sarah Thomas, Chair of Ilkley Arts, came into Ghyll Royd on Tuesday, October 10 to hand out certificates to all the winners, including a viewer’s choice award which was chosen by the visitors to the trail. Over 70 people voted for their favourite with Freya from Moorfield School receiving the most votes for her “atmospheric” Guitar painting.

David Martin, Headteacher at Ghyll Royd School said: “The first ever Wharfedale Art Competition was a massive success! Our Art Teacher Miss Keeley Smith has worked tirelessly to put together such a fantastic exhibition of children’s work! We’d like to say a big thank you to all participating schools, to Sarah Thomas for her continued support throughout, to our three local judges who performed a very difficult job so wonderfully, and to Tim Tennant from Ilkley Art Shop who kindly leant us the art boards to use for the exhibition. We can’t wait for the next Art Trail where we hope to bring you work from even more schools in the local area!”

To find out more about Ilkley Arts, head to www.ilkleyarts.org. Details of all the winners, and a slideshow of all of this year’s submissions can be viewed at https://www.ghyllroydschool.co.uk/2017/10/13/arttrail/.