However, Bournemouth & Poole College is offering a carrot to encourage young students and adults to maximise the additional time spent at home in the lockdown by entering the Dorset Art Prize.

Founded by the College in partnership with the Dorset Community Foundation Trust, the awards are free to enter and remain open to all Dorset residents, not just students of Bournemouth & Poole College. There are five categories with a prize fund totalling more than £6,200 for the following categories:

•    Years 10 and 11 Dorset school students – 1st prize £1,000, 2nd prize £500, 3rd prize £250

•    Years 12 and 13 Dorset school students – 1st prize £1,000, 2nd prize £500, 3rd prize £250

•    19+ Art Prize – Open to all Dorset based adults. 1st prize £1,000, 2nd prize £500, 3rd prize £250

•    Community Art Prize – £500 will be awarded to a community art group that submit outstanding art as part of a group project

•    School Prize – £500 will be awarded to the school that the judges think has shown outstanding participation and demonstrated a wide range of talent.

Diane Grannell, principal of Bournemouth & Poole College, explained, “We founded the Dorset Art Prize seven years ago to demonstrate the College’s commitment to the local arts and engage with Dorset’s vibrant artistic community. We are proud to still be running this competition, and we feel that in these challenging times, it is more important than ever to be taking creative inspiration from our current circumstances and using art to express ourselves.

“The theme for this year’s Dorset Art Prize is ‘Youth’. We hope that families with young students can take part in this activity together and find creative ways to explore this theme using recyclable materials from the home or unwanted objects which can help interpret this message.”

To reflect the current times, there has been a reduction in award categories available for the public to enter. Candidates from across Dorset can visit the College website to make a submission before entries close on Wednesday 15 July. Shortlisted artwork will be showcased in Poole Museum, where the competition final will take place in November 2020, depending on the Government’s guidelines.

For more information, please visit thecollege.co.uk/news/dorset-art-prize.