Artellite already run The Signature Art Prize, founded in 2007, which is the only award of its kind that aims to promote the work of artists in the emerging stages of their careers. Drawing attention to the unique perspective of students and recent graduates, it celebrates and identifies emerging artists’ ‘Signature Style’.

The Signature Art Prize was established by gallery Directors Isobel Beauchamp and Elinor Olisa. With their intuitive knowledge of the contemporary art market, they endeavour to fully capture and develop each individual artist’s ‘brand’. With the Art Prize in its 10th year, we thought it the perfect time to collaborate on a Junior Prize, allowing art students to showcase their work, experience the exhibition process and assist them in promoting their work in an often challenging art world.

From Artelitte, the delivery of the prize is described as, “The Aldridge Junior Signature Art Prize has been created to run alongside the main competition and is open exclusively to students studying at the family of Aldridge Schools in inner London, the North West and on the South East coast. Categories open to students are Fine Art, Graphics, Textiles, Film and Photography. The finalist students will experience how the exhibition is created and the overall winner of the Junior Prize will be offered an internship with DegreeArt.”

We would also like to immensely thank our Junior Art Prize sponsor, Callsign, who we are delighted to be supported by on this project:

Callsign

Callsign is an identity fraud, authorisation and authentication company. We solve challenges that organisations face in getting their users on to and interacting with their digital platforms easily and securely. We provide solutions to some of the world’s largest banks and offer “bank grade” identification to public and private sector clients of all sizes. Callsign’s Intelligence Driven Authentication recognises users by combining deep learning insights – derived across device, location and behavioural data – with personalised and contextual customer journeys. As a result, users can get on with their digital lives whilst businesses improve customer engagement, increase productivity and reduce the risk of fraud.

To learn more about Callsign and how it is helping provide a replicable blueprint for businesses around the globe to intelligently protect against threats in real-time in any region where fraud occurs, visit: https://www.callsign.com/

Zia Hayat, Founder and CEO of Callsign, sponsoring both the 2019/20 Signature Prize and the Aldridge Junior Signature Prize says:

“As a technology company, of course we value technical skills. But without creativity, expression and inspirational thinking it would be very difficult to create the technologies that improve the way people live and work. That’s why Callsign not only supports young people in gaining work experience around digital identity but, through the sponsorship of the Signature Art Prize and Aldridge Junior Signature Art Prize, encourages recipients to pursue a career in the creative industries.”

“We are committed to educating and training young people, especially those from less advantageous backgrounds who may not have the same opportunities readily available. We hope that our sponsorship of the Art Prizes will be a starting point for a fantastic career in art or design for some talented individuals. Having worked with the Aldridge Foundation in the past, we are honoured to be involved in this award and plan to continue to collaborate with the organisation in the future.”