This summer, we're giving you the opportunity to get creative and express your uniqueness with our new Blank Page competition for teens this summer!

The competition is open to all teens aged 10-18, and entrants are invited to experiment with their choice of artistic mediums including sculpture, paint, writing, filmography, and anything else! You can interpret the competition themes however you'd like. The winning entry will receive a bespoke 1:1 tutorial session with your choice of Blank Page professional artist!

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The Blank Page Project Summer Competition is now closed. Thank you to everyone who took part and submitted a piece of artwork. Read about our winners below!

With such an incredible variety of talent and creativity, it was a real challenge to narrow down the few winners. All our other talented entrants were awarded with a book token and given some feedback on their piece from the judges.

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First Place: Freya Dowling, 13

Theme: Identity

"My artwork shows a person stood staring out into the distance. The wording says "see the man who stands upon the hill, he dreams of all the battles won" this is the first line to the song 'the Foundations of Decay' by My Chemical Romance. On the person's backpack is a pin badge of a trans and non binary flag. This links to the lyrics as there is a lot of prejudice against trans and non binary people and many trans people suffer from mental illness/bullying so by saying "the dreams of all the battles won" it shows they have won their battles that come with coming out as trans.

"Identity is important to talk about as many people struggle figuring out who they are/coming out."

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Second Place: Gene Green, 10

Theme: My Dream

"Ever since doing a digital art workshop in Felixstowe, where I used my friend’s water bottle, I got a passion for making inanimate objects into people. Then, at school, I composed this poem and drew a living glue stick to go with it.

"It fits into the ‘my dream’ category because I’ve always allowed my imagination to go wild, and ever since writing a poem about Dave the glue stick, he has become part of the fantasy."

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Joint Third Place: Betsy Taylor, 14

Theme: Identity

"I am a very artsy person and I have always been - I haven't really drawn myself too many times, so I thought it could be a challenge. That’s why I choose Identity. I am centred in the middle of the page, looking quite bland. I am a caring and loving person, so I drew a big heart. I wear simple clothes, so my shirt says 'A T-Shirt' to show this. Behind me is what people don't see when they first look at me - my creative side. I doodle loads, so I thought about some key colours and represented them with doodles that came to mind.

"I didn't draw and facial features to represent me as I don't always have the same look - so I left it blank (e.g. I don't always smile / frown / look the same)"

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Joint Third Place: Tilly Flynn, 13

Theme: Identity

"I was drawing something I already had an idea for on a photo that I took, and edited, and realised that this could relate to the subject that I have chosen, which is identity. Demons in my opinion, are severely misunderstood and are victims to unreasonable social parameters.

"In the past, maybe even as near as a hundred years ago, an autistic person would be dismissed as consorting with the devil, when all they wanted was to be understood."

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If you have any queries, please contact Katie Puls, Youth Activity Producer, by emailing katie.puls@suffolklibraries.co.uk or calling 07380 193784.