Competing against students from nearly 20 schools and colleges from across the county, Truro High’s pupils scooped two top-level awards and ten honorary commendations. This level of success was not matched by any other institution in the competition.
Hundreds of students from Year 11 and 13 showcased a range of high profile creative work at the prestigious event, including Fine Art, Fashion & Textiles, Graphic Design, Film & Animation, Journalism, Photography, Product Design, Creative Writing & Poetry, Music, Game Art, Dance and Drama.
Year 12 Alice Barry received the ‘Fashion & Textiles’ award for her high fashion pieces inspired by Kafka’s absurdist satire ‘The Metamorphosis’ and the socio-economic tensions in Mexican culture. The judges praised the young designer for her multi-layered approach to both fabric and ideas which “really invite you to investigate them… and find more the closer you look.”
Year 13 Emily Elwell-Deighton took home the ‘Creative Writing & Poetry’ award for her hard-hitting script ‘Rapture’ which explores domestic violence through a metaphysical lens. “To be writing plays at the age of 17 or 18 is such a skill,” said Amanda Harris, industry judge and Director of Kernow Education Arts Partnership. “This writer seemed to really understand her medium… her stage directions were just fantastic [and] you could really imagine this being realised on stage.”
Fellow Year 13 Alice Chuter received a commendation for her experimental photography created using the sun to expose prints whilst her classmate Rebe Winn received a record-breaking two commendations – no other entrant achieved such success – in the ‘Fine Art’ and ‘Photography’ categories for her high concept installation pieces. Rebe’s innovative portfolio has won plaudits over her time at the school and was even featured in the ‘Future Now’ Exhibition at the Tate Modern last summer.
Pupils who also received sought-after highly commended prizes included Year 11 Sophie Rowe for her fine art sculptures entitled ‘Trapped in Chains’, Year 12 Eugenie Nevin for her short story entitled ‘Wanders of Nature’ and Year 13 Karen Chan for her classically-inspired music entitled ‘Wonderland’. Year 11 designers Rose Hastings and Megan White also headed home with honorary commendations in the hotly contested ‘Fashion & Textiles’ category for their 60s and 20s inspired dresses.
The CreatEd Exhibition is the only show in the UK which exhibits the creative talents of students from schools and colleges together. Judges are invited in from leading industries to award prizes in all categories alongside the award-winning university’s department heads.
Truro High’s Head of Creative and Performing Arts, Mrs Judith Tutin said: “Our pupils’ incredible success at the awards has certainly made this a year to remember; they’ve truly outdone themselves! Creativity is at the heart of everything we do at Truro High so we were particularly proud to be complimented on our interdisciplinary approach to the exhibition and, especially, on our pupils confidence in transferring their skills between art, photography, literature and textiles so fluently. I would like to say a huge thank to all of the teachers and support staff who create the right environment for our girls to get inspired, creatively flourish and develop into the cultural innovators of tomorrow.”
