TWO young artists from Chester have been shortlisted for a prestigious international prize.

The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) have announced the shortlist of the 2024 global edition of their annual art prize for secondary school students, with £4,300 in grants on offer for winning artists and their schools.

Among the talented artists vying for the title of 'Global' winner are the winners from The Chester Students Prize - Emily Peacock of Sir John Deane's Sixth Form College and Emma Powell of Tarporley High School and Sixth Form College.

Emily reached the final thanks to her work 'The Blue Bridge' whilst Emma's piece 'Watching Autumn' saw her also secure a place on the shortlist.

The SAF is a non-profit organisation that was launched in Hong Kong in 2003 which promotes emerging talent through its international art prizes, while also raising funds for various charitable programmes.

The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prizes run in ten countries and are designed to celebrate the importance of art in the education system by identifying talented young artists and rewarding successful secondary-school art programmes to the benefit of a greater number of students.

The Sovereign Art Foundation Global Students Prize will see 18 artworks by students from Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Chester, Isle of Man, London, Malta and Gozo, Portugal and Mauritius, united in an online exhibition. These finalists were previously named winners in their respective regions during 2023, being selected either by a local judging panel or cinching the popular vote from members of the public.

From this Global presentation one Global Judges’ Prize will be awarded to the student selected by a jury comprised of noted professionals, including: Howard Bilton, Founder and Chairman of SAF; Tiffany Pinkstone, Co-founder & Executive director of SAF; Sara Mao, Director and Auctioneer at Christies Education Asia Pacific and Tanya Michele Amador, Independent Curator.

The public will also be invited to vote for their favourite work, with the most popular piece to receive the title of Global Public Vote Prize Winner. Votes can be cast online until 6pm, February 1.

The online exhibition runs until February 5, when the winners will be announced, also online.

If you would like to vote for your favourite piece, you can do so by visiting: https://www.sovereignartfoundation.com/sp-global/.