Winners of Schools' Poster Competition announced

3 October 2013

Turner prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger has chosen the three winners from Art on the Underground’s Labyrinth Schools Poster Competition from over 800 entries from 49 schools across 27 London boroughs.

The winning entries are from young people aged 5 to 18 years and were chosen for their highly original design and excellent interpretation of the competition brief.

Hundreds of thousands of customers will see the three lucky winners’ artwork when it starts to be displayed as a poster across all London Underground stations from today.

The posters were inspired by the words ‘Future Journeys’ or ‘Your Journey Starts Here’. The competition drew upon Labyrinth, a major permanent project by artist Mark Wallinger, who has created a unique artwork for each of the 270 Tube stations for the 150th anniversary of London Underground.

The posters could be based on a vision of what a Tube station might look like in 2063 – when the Tube will be 200 years old. The designs also needed to include a reference to the entrant’s local station and a labyrinth design. The submission could be any style from abstract to cartoon, use any colours and any medium from collage to painting.

Flora Campbell, aged 12, from Lyndhurst Primary School in Southwark scooped the Primary school category with her poster of a girl with the names of Tube stations reflected across her face.

D'arcy Livermore-Ephraim, aged 12, from St.Paul’s Way Trust School in Tower Hamlets won the secondary school category with his “Mile…End” labyrinth picture

Ibrahim Hashi, aged 17, from Brentside High School in Ealing stole the Sixth Form award with an abstract futurist tunnel creation. There were also nine commended designs spanning these three age groups.

Earlier today Mark Wallinger and Mike Brown MVO Managing Director of London Underground and London Rail awarded all 12 students certificates and prizes in person at Southwark station.

Louise Coysh, Curator for Art on the Underground at London Underground, said:

"I’ve been bowled over by the standard of the entries and the way in which all the schools have engaged with the ideas behind Labyrinth. I’m sure these fantastic artworks will impress our customers as much as they impressed Mark Wallinger."

D'arcy Livermore-Ephraim, aged 12, from St.Paul’s Way Trust Secondary School, Tower Hamlets, said:

"I entered the competition because we were learning about mazes so our Art Teacher, Miss Bader, told us about the Underground competition and then we started to make our Underground labyrinths. What gave me the idea of the poster was that I looked at a train map and saw the dots and that's how I got the dots in the middle of my maze and the Underground has lots of trains and that's why I put a train on the outside. I feel very happy that thousands of people are going to see my poster and I know lots of people go through the Underground everyday for work so I'm very happy that they are going to see my art work."

Mark Wallinger, said:

"It's been wonderful to see such an impressive array of personal responses by so many children and young people across the city who I hope will continue to engage with the artworks and the ideas behind them for years to come."

The Labyrinth Schools Poster Competition is part of Art on the Underground’s engagement programme. The Competition has been delivered in partnership with A New Direction, an organisation that connects children, young people and education with the best of arts and culture in London. The project was supported using public funding from Arts Council England, with additional support from JCDecaux.

The nine commended entries below will be displayed on the Transport for London website

1. Nirujan Thevarajah, Bond Primary School , Merton, Primary
2. Rojdar Cam, Bounds Green School, Haringey, Primary
3. Rosie Vaughan, Wimbledon Park Primary School, Merton
4. Caitlin Stanborough, Harris Academy Purley, Croydon, Secondary
5. Lisa Patel, Swaminarayan School, Brent, Secondary
6. Rayhan Karim, St. Paul’s Way Trust School, Tower Hamlets, Secondary
7. Pei Ei Leong, Brentside High School, Ealing, Sixth Form
8. Jessica Pereira, Plumstead Manor School, Greenwich, Sixth Form
9. Wura Bolarinwa, Brentside High School, Ealing, Sixth Form