Television presenter Gok Wan will once again be picking the winning entries as the Arts and Minds competition celebrates its 10th anniversary.
The popular arts and creative writing challenge helps UK schools and students to celebrate and promote cultural diversity.
It is run by the NASUWT with support from SecEd and our sister title Primary Teacher Update among others.
The competition encourages students to use artwork and creative writing to explore what diversity, equality and identity means to them and their school, families and communities.
Entries should reflect the aims of the competition to promote culture diversity, equality and tackle racism in schools.
Awards are split across primary, secondary (up to the age of 16) and special schools with categories for both art and creative writing
The competition also includes the Anne Frank Poetry Award, a separate category run in conjunction the Anne Frank Trust UK which recognises poetry entries inspired by the life and writing of Anne Frank.
Last year, the competition saw more than 1,000 entries from across the UK, and the overall winner was a piece of art entitled We Are All Equal by year 4 to 6 pupils from Beaufort Special School in Birmingham.
Mr Wan, who was involved in selecting the winning entries from the final shortlist, said of the winner: “I think we sometimes take for granted a phrase like ‘We are all equal’, we over-use the term, but sometimes we can forget the strength that comes from behind these words. This piece really does reinforce the strength of that. Diversity and being one is so simple and so elegant and so necessary.”
Among the 12 finalists, eight entries were from secondary-aged students, including Nicole Davidson, an S2 pupil from Greenwood Academy in North Ayrshire who won the Anne Frank Poetry Award for her piece Set Free.
The Dress of Many Cultures which had been created by year 7 to 9 students from Bishop Milner Catholic School in the West Midlands also won.
Other supporters of the competition include Love Music Hate Racism, VSO and Think Global. Winning schools will receive £350 with the overall winner getting £1,000. There are gift vouchers of up to £100 for winning pupils. The closing date for entries is July 1 and the ceremony takes place on October 8.
For more information on Arts and Minds, visit www.nasuwt.org.uk/artsandminds and for more on the Anne Frank Poetry Award, see www.annefrank.org.uk
CAPTION: elebration: Gok Wan with the 2012 winning entry (top); the Dress of Many Cultures by students from Bishop Milner School