Ahead of the May Coronation of King Charles III, the Tower of London has announced a school Coronation competition.
The Tower is asking for schools across the nation to design an illustration for the Tower’s specially designed Coronation benches. The Tower describes this as an opportunity to bring the Coronation to life in the classroom while also learning about the moment of a historic transition.
Fifteen winning schools will work with an artist from Wild in Art to bring the designs to life, an organisation helping to put together popular art events across the world. The designs will be put onto benches, which will then be displayed at the Tower of London during the Coronation celebrations in May. For winners in Northern Ireland, their benches will be displayed at Hillsborough Castle and Gardens. Following the Coronation celebrations, the winning benches will return to the winning schools.
Winning schools will be offered a VIP trip for one class to visit the Tower of London this summer. Children will get to see their bench and take part in different themed activities. In addition, every school that enters the competition will be put into a raffle to receive a free class visit this autumn or a set of Coronation bunting featuring some of the illustrated bench designs.
Every school in the UK is eligible to enter. Entries must be sent in by midnight on Friday, 10 March 2023. Winners will be announced a week later on Friday, 17 March, with artists making their school visits during the last week of March. To register for the competition, you can click here.
