Winners of Royal Arms Competition for Kids Announced
- Emma Bridgewater chooses winners of Royal Arms Competition
- Winners from two age groups 5-7 and 8-11 and are from schools in Warwickshire and Cheshire
- A further five students from schools in Shropshire, Warwickshire and Cheshire were commended
As part of the Jubilee celebrations and to launch the new ‘Revealing Royal Arms’ interpretation project on their website the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) held a competition for young people to design their own sparkling version of the Royal Arms for the Queen.
Entrants were asked to create their own Coat of Arms for the Queen’s Jubilee and then brought their entries to their nearby CCT church where they were judged and shortlisted before being sent Emma Bridgewater of Emma Bridgewater Ltd who made the final decision.
The competition was divided into two age categories (5-7 and 8-11) and Emma Bridgewater chose the following winners:
- 5-7 – Holly from Wilmcote Primary School, Stratford Upon Avon
- 8-11 – Aimee from Elton Primary School,
Liz Banyard, Acting Head or Wilmcote Primary School said:
“Wilmcote School has been involved with the Churches Conservation Trust at Billesley Church over the past year. Our Key Stage 2 children were involved in an archeological dig in the old Billesley village next to the church. They also each designed a coat of arms and these have been arranged on a plaque next to the church and are permanently displayed.
When the idea for the competition came through, the school thought it was another way for the children to engage with the history of their community. It was a perfect activity before the Jubilee weekend. We are looking forward to other ways we can involve the school with the beautiful historic church at Billesley.”
Holly, aged 7, said
“We thought about how we would set out our Royal Arms and the colours we would use. It had to be symmetrical. Mine had a lion and a man on. I got that idea from a film. We really enjoyed doing them”.
""The response to the competition was great, approximately 140 of our pupils participated and entered their designs. We are extremely proud of all of their efforts and are thrilled to learn that two of our pupils designs have been commended and that the National winner, Aimee Overmire, is from Elton Primary School! Congratulations to Aimee, Emma and Annalise.""
Emma Bridgewater said:
“There were lots of lovely entries for the competition; I really enjoyed the judging as the children responded so variously to the competition challenge to design a Coat of Arms for the Queen to celebrate this great Jubilee year. Some of the mottoes were striking, serious, funny, historical and topical- I enjoyed them all immensely. And I loved the differing choices of content, from corgis to guardsmen, with many different animals featured, some rather enigmatic, only broadly describable as 'beasties'!”
5-7 Commended by Emma Bridgwater:
- Tomi from Wilmcote Primary School, Stratford Upon Avon
- Darcy from Castlefields Bridgnorth
8-11 commended:
- Emma from Elton Primary School, Chester
- Annalise from Elton Primary School, Chester
- Indiya from St Mary's Bluecoat C. E. Primary School, Bridgnorth
The project:
Out of 340+ churches in our estate, nearly 100 of them have examples of Royal Arms dating from 1190 up to the 20th century – all with a rich history of their own.
It is an accessible and concise resource, with layered information that will feature case studies of each phase of the Royal Arms including how long it was used for and who used it; and general information on the political and artistic events and movements that have influenced them - how it started and how and why they changed.
The project is designed to be interactive, with:
- zoomable images
- Interactive timeline of every style of Royal Arms from the first
- Interactive shield where you can click on each separate element that makes up the Royal Arms and find out more about it
This interpretation project, which is the second in the series following from Discover Wallpaintings, is an online resource providing an interactive guide to the history of the Royal Arms. The Trust aims to encourage learning about our rich royal history to celebrate the year of Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
See all the winners and commended entries