A panel of judges, including Foundation Trustee Lady Carol Aldridge, former Darwen Aldridge Community Academy student Khushna Sulaman-Butt, and Peter Gabriel, representative from the competition sponsor, Callsign, were asked to score the entries on a range of criteria from creativity and originality to quality of artistic composition. The finalists have been announced as follows:

Fine Art
Salma Kossari – Kensington Aldridge Community Academy
Nicole Sharples – Darwen Aldridge Community Academy
Lauren Terry – Darwen Aldridge Community Academy

Textiles & Graphics
Azel Davies – Darwen Aldridge Community Academy
Katie Moore – Darwen Aldridge Community Academy
Tia Britcliffe – Darwen Aldridge Community Academy

Photography
Aedan Clarke – Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio
Connor Thomas – Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio
Bryan Gomez Martinez – Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio
Connor Zebedee Quayle – Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio

Film
Afroditi Themistokleous – Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio
Rachel Angela Guest – Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio

Details of all finalists and their work can be viewed here

The finalists will be travelling to London on 13 February 2020 for a jam-packed day of activities, seeing the best of London’s art venues, including Somerset House and the Tate Modern, before heading to the Bankside Hotel for a private viewing of the exhibition where winner for each category will be announced, as well as the overall winner, who will be offered an internship with Artellite.