The annual Leeds Arts University Sustainability Awards have been announced today with students receiving first and runner-up prizes of £250 and £125 across three categories – Higher Education, Postgraduate; Higher Education, Undergraduate and Further Education.
Now in its fourth year, the awards recognise innovative and outstanding work that addresses environmental, social and ethical issues with sustainability running clearly through the thinking and approach.
Image: Lewis Arnold, Solstice 58.58 degrees, 2020 (Film still)
In the Higher Education (Postgraduate) category, first prize was awarded to Lewis Arnold, MA Creative Practice for Solstice 58.58°, a film that explores themes of environmental responsibility and the clash of counterculture roots and commercial interests relevant in surf culture.
Image: Dayoung Min, On a Daily Basis, 2020 (Film still)
In the Higher Education (Undergraduate) category, first prize was awarded to Dayoung Min, BA (Hons) Fine Art, for On a Daily Basis (2020), an artist’s ebook that documents Dayoung’s year of de-cluttering and its impact on her daily life and mental health and invites the reader to contemplate their own relationship with material belongings.
Image: Olivia Hughes, Ted and Olive's Great Adventures, 2020
In the Further Education category, first prize was awarded to Olivia Hughes, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, for Ted and Olive's Great Adventures (2020) an illustrated children’s book based on her relationship with her brother and the challenges they took on together. Olivia said: “Together we can influence others to challenge old fashioned views and perspectives to create more sustainable attitudes in a modern society."
The runners-up were: in the Higher Education (Postgraduate) category, Marc Bratcher, MA Creative Practice; in the Higher Education (Undergraduate) category, Kirsty Ramsay Hogan, BA (Hons) Visual Communication and in the Further Education category, Daisy Whittle, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, and Hannah Watts, Extended Diploma in Creative Practice.
Vice-Chancellor and chair of the judging panel, Professor Simone Wonnacott said: “Leeds Arts University recognises the importance of embedding sustainability within its practices, both operationally and educationally. The judging panel were delighted with the response to this year’s competition. We had a record number of entries this year, demonstrating serious and intelligent engagement with a broad range of sustainability issues by today’s young creatives.”
The awards are open to current students who are asked to submit work, based on their interpretation of “sustainability”, that reflects the aims identified in the University Sustainability Framework. The Framework helps educate our students about long-term, cultural, economic and environmental health and vitality, together with the importance of linking social, financial, and environmental wellbeing.