Following the success of the 2021 Secondary School competition, the IOA organised a Primary School Competition for children in 2022. The IOA is running both Primary Schools and Secondary Schools competitions again this year.
The competition introduced the concept of soundscapes and asked children, as individuals or in small groups, to create a piece of art (drawing, picture, patchwork, collage or similar) to illustrate some of the sounds they like to hear and some of the sounds they don’t like to hear. A total of 14 entries were received, which was very encouraging for our first year.
The judges were really impressed with the creativity of some of the children, with entries including drawings, collages, and papier mâché projects. Some of the entries also demonstrated that the children really understood the brief and were inspired to think about the sounds around them, what creates them and how they make them feel. There is a real pool of talented soundscape enthusiasts out there!
Winner, Commended and Highly Commended
Jessica Davies and Sienna Cox from Old Sarum Primary School, Salisbury were commended for their entry, and Cressida Kilby from St Birinus CE School, Dorchesteron-Thames was highly commended.
The winner of the competition, with a highly personal piece of art that dug deep into the emotions that sound can awaken, was Alicia Aitken from Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, Rottingdean. Alicia’s detailed piece, entitled The Sounds of My Life, is an A3 collage using a variety of materials such as carboard, felt, cotton, foil, and bubble wrap. It depicted the sources of sound and the descriptions of her feelings very well, for example, the sounds of her breath, a light switch and a key in the front door.
Combined with the imagery; the descriptions really made the judges feel them too. 2023 IOA schools competitions
2023 Primary Schools Competition (deadline 31 July 2023)
This year’s Primary Schools Competition asks children to create a piece of art showing a sound they don’t like to hear and an idea for how to improve it. Or, if you have or know of secondary school age children, this year’s Secondary Schools Competition explores the connection between ecology and acoustics by asking children to use the BirdNET app to identify the birds present in three acoustically different areas.
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