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The Koestler Awards

2010 Awards

We are currently inviting entries for the 2010 Koestler Awards.

We have had a record 5,867 entries - a 14% increase on last year.

Certificates, feedback and prize cheques for entrants aged under 25 were sent out in August. All others will follow by mid-October.

Please click here for the near-final list of 2009 Awards results.

2008 Awards

We had 5,130 entries in 2008.

   Click here for a full list of 2008 Awards results.

   Click here for Facts and Figures about the 2008 Awards.

2007 Awards

We had 4,802 entries in 2007.

Please click here for a full list of the 2007 Awards results.

Please click here for facts and figures about entrants and entries.

About the Koestler Awards

The entrants to the awards are from one of the following groups:

• inmates of UK prisons, young offender institutions (16-21-year olds) and secure units (under 16s);
• in-patients of Special Hospitals and high and medium secure psychiatric units;
• detainees held in Immigration Removal Centres;
• offenders supervised by the Probation Service, Youth Offending Teams or Scottish Criminal Justice Social Work Services;
• UK citizens held in prisons overseas.

The aims of the awards include:

• a positive goal towards which inmates can strive;
• a means of acquiring and practising new skills, and often discovering unrecognised talent;
• an outlet for creative energies and emotions;
• recognition of achievements;
• encouragement to continue in the arts and education.

Offenders often tell us that a Koestler Award was the first time that they felt praised for achievement in their lives.

The awards operate on an annual cycle.  Entries are usually invited from December, with a submission deadline in March.  Heads of Learning & Skills and Education Managers act as local agents for the scheme, encouraging and advising participants on their entries. See How to enter.

The awards cover 49 artforms. Entries are sent to the Koestler Arts Centre at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in London, where they are judged by over 50 experts in the different artforms, all of whom give their service voluntarily.

Many of the Awards are generously sponsored by charitable trusts, businesses and individuals, who will often name an award in tribute or memory of a loved one.  Sponsors are invited to the private view of the Koestler exhibition and sent a copy of their awarded work each year.  The winning offenders are asked to send anonymous feedback to their sponsors, who then get a real sense of what their donation has achieved.