Schools’ Competition 2023 - 2024

And the winner is…

Congratulations to the Blue Coat Church of England School for winning the 2023/ 2024 Gallery of Living History Schools’ Competition with their submission celebrating sonic pioneer Delia Derbyshire, best known for her electronic arrangement of the theme music to Doctor Who!

Blue Coat Church of England School with GoLH Co-Founder Andy Serkis, Trustee Dr Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE and Coventry University GoLH Project Lead Dr Bianca Wright
Students from the shortlisted schools were interviewed about their experience by student proctor, Lewis Phillips, a BA (Hons) Digital Media student at Coventry University
Coventry University GoLH Project Lead Dr Bianca Wright hosted the event
A special certificate of appreciation was awarded to Dr Roger Medwell for his continuing contribution to the Gallery of Living History. Dr Medwell is an alumnus of Coventry University.
Supported by student proctors from Coventry University, such as Ekari Kapondo (pictured), attendees and participants from the schools had the opportunity to experience the augmented reality soundscapes developed in the competition
The schoolchildren were asked about their experiences during the competition and what they learned from participating in the Gallery of Living History
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Each team had the opportunity to talk about their entry during the interviews.
The Polesworth School nominated local hero Mrs Shirley King (pictured) who was also honoured at the event and had the opportunity to see the AR experience created about her.

You can access Blue Coat Schools’ winning augmented reality soundscape by scanning the QR code below with your mobile phone or tablet.

We would also like to acknowledge the excellent work of the runners-up The Polesworth School, who nominated local hero Mrs Shirley King for her exceptional work for the school and the community.

About the Schools’ Competition

What is history? Whose memories? Who should be celebrated? The Gallery of Living History says it’s about ALL OF US and our contributions. So we want YOU to help us decide who should be praised.

In partnership with Coventry University we aim to unearth who created our towns, cities, systems and structures and whose energy, endurance, strength or kindness helped to make out communities better and helped to make the country what it is.

The Gallery of Living History ran a competition to find out who some of our local school students thought we should celebrate.

There were 3 shortlisted entries and while the winner has been announced, you can still watch the videos below.

The young people worked very hard to produce their ideas for soundscapes with visuals which capture a local unsung hero. This is what they were asked to think about:

1. Why this specific unsung hero?

2. Is their idea and the information clear?

3. Is it an imaginative idea?

Our wonderful panel of judges, including an Oscar nominated film maker, a head of industry and a Reverend, used the information from the public vote and their assessment of the entries to choose a winner. More details can be found here in our judges section below.

Watch this space for more information about next year’s Gallery of Living History Schools’ Competition!

Watch the videos of the entries from Blue Coat School and The Polesworth school below

Delia Derbyshire - Blue Coat School

Mrs Shirley King - The Chosen Ones - Polesworh School

Mrs Shirley King - The Shirleys - Polesworth School

Congratulations to Blue Coat Church of England School

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Congratulations to Blue Coat Church of England School 〰️

JUDGES

Once the public has had the chance to vote on their favourite entry, the judging panel will also assess the entries and a winner will be selected based on the outcome of both processes.

The GOLH has already set about the creation of a prestigious judging panel led by Andy Serkis to whom school entries will be sent, and a team of expert supporting staff to help steer the work.

Meet our amazing judges below!

  • Nathaniel L. Peat

    Multi-Award Winning Entrepreneur, Patron, International Speaker (Inc TEDx), Chairman, Business Coach and man of many talents and achievements

    Bio

  • Shelina Janmohamed

    Author, commentator and Vice President of Ogilvy Islamic Marketing

    Bio

  • Noorzaman Rashid

    Noorzaman Rashid

    Chief Executive of CEME and former chair of the Foundation for Social Improvement

    Bio

  • Dr Roger Medwell

    Former engineer and captain of industry

    Bio

  • Misan Harriman

    Photographer, entrepreneur and social activist

    Bio

  • Esme Weil

    Esme Weil

    Mathematician and PhD student

    Bio

  • Keith Magee

    The Reverend Professor Keith Magee

    Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor of Practice in Cultural Justice at the University College London (UCL) Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) and a Senior Fellow in Culture and Justice at its Centre on U.S. Politics (CUSP) and Chair of The Guardian Foundation

    Bio

RULES

  • Schools will be encouraged to form teams of 3+ people, however, should a single pupil express an interest and complete the necessary application and submissions, special arrangements can be made to accommodate this.

  • A team can include students of varying ages from within the school.

  • Schools can enter up to three teams of pupils.

  • Participants should be between the ages of 11 and 18

  • The subject of the memorialisation for the installation should be a person, persons, or groups.

  • Abstract pieces are encouraged, and symbolic or representational works are also welcome

 

The Application must include a written statement detailing:

  • why you have chosen that particular person, persons, or group

  • details of their achievements (including dates)

  • why they need to be recognised or celebrated

  • who might oppose your suggestion

  • what they would say against the memorialisation

  • how you would convince them that this is the right person to be celebrated

The statement must be in written, video or audio form, accessible through a file upload that may be accessed by the assessors and judges. Videos or audio recordings must be three [3] minutes maximum

Shortlisted teams must be prepared to participate in a workshop to enable their final presentation to the judges. Failure to attend may disqualify the entry.

KEY DATES

  • 27 November 2023 to register to compete

  • 2 December workshops for teams

  • Deadline for nomination entries is 19 January 2024

  • Workshops for shortlisted teams will take place on Saturday, 3 February 2024 (TBC)

  • The finalists will be announced in April 2024

  • Public vote runs from 1 - 5 May 2024

  • Unveiling of the Winning entry on 20 June 2024