Halls Young Artist Competition

Halls Young Artist Competition

The Halls Young Artist competition seeks the next generation of budding creative artists to produce crowd-pleasing and show-stopping artwork.

Hosted in The Rose Paterson Art Gallery, Halls Young Artist competition offers an opportunity for young artists from local schools and further education within a 40 mile radius of Weston Park to develop their talents and to showcase their works in a public art gallery at the very heart of England. Every year we offer a different theme for our young artists to work with and for 2026 the theme is “40 Years of Care: The Weston Park Foundation’s Ruby Anniversary’

In 2026, the Weston Park Foundation is celebrating 40 years of caring for Weston Park. For four decades, the House, its amazing collections and artworks, the parkland, and the wildlife have been looked after so everyone can enjoy them — now and in the future.

Theme Details: 

A ruby is the special gemstone for a 40th anniversary. It shines bright red and stands for strength, love, and something precious that lasts a long time.

Just like a ruby, care and creativity can grow stronger over time – bright, bold, and full of sparkle!

What Could You Create? You might want to think about:

Ruby – the colour red, light, fire, and sparkle

Care – protecting something important

Looking after a special place, an animal, a person, or a memory

A space that means something to you

How things change over time – past, present, or future

What 40 years of care might look or feel like

Memories, history, and stories passed on

You can create your artwork based on one or more of any of the above themes in your own style — realistic, abstract, colourful, detailed, or imaginative. There’s no right or wrong way!

Visitors to the Art Gallery tell us how much they look forward to the Competition each year and so we hope that you’ll also enjoy using your imagination to create work for the competition.

All shortlisted entries are exhibited in The Rose Paterson Art Gallery during December 2025 and January 2026.

Weston Park is grateful to Halls Fine Art and to Arts Society Wrekin for their generous support of the competition and we’re grateful to every child and every school that participates in this exciting competition!