News:

2008 Awards Results
We have had a record 5,184 entries to this year's awards. Most of the results are now available - go to the Awards page. All certificates and prize money will be sent out by the end of September.

We are already visiting prisons and other establishments to present as many awards as possible in person. If you would like us to visit your establishment, get in touch.

Help us
We still need to raise £155,000 to keep the Koestler Trust running in 2008-09. Please think about sponsoring a Koestler Award in your name. Or simply make a donation. We really need the money, and we'll use it well.

Selling exhibition
As well as our main exhibition at the Southbank, we areopening the Koestler Arts Centre for sale of thousands of artworks from 29 Oct to 2 Nov (Weds-Fri 11 - 7, Sat-Sun 12 - 4)..

 
 


Prison art and the Koestler Trust

We are the UK’s best-known prison arts charity.  We award, exhibit and sell artworks by offenders, detainees and high security patients.

Our aims are:

  • to help offenders lead more positive lives by motivating them to participate in the creative arts;
  • to demonstrate the power of arts activity in the criminal justice system.

The Koestler Awards attract around 5,000 entries a year from inmates of prisons, young offender institutions, secure hospitals and immigration removal centres across the UK, as well as offenders supervised by probation and youth offending services.

The entries come in 49 artforms, including

  • creative writing
  • film
  • graphic design
  • music
  • needlework
  • painting and drawing
  • photography
  • sculpture
  • woodcraft

Experts from these fields volunteer their time to judge the entries.  Every entrant is sent a  participation certificate, most get feedback on their work, and a quarter win cash prizes up to £100.  The awards have a profound impact on offenders’ self-esteem, leading them to positive new directions in life.

Our specially trained arts mentors support the most talented Koestler award winners to continue their arts activity after release from custody.

The best entries to our visual arts awards form our annual exhibition – – the national showcase of arts in criminal justice. For the next 3 - 4 years, this is taking place at London's Southbank Centre. In 2008, it is being curated through a unique project with local young offenders, generously sponsored by Bloomberg and by the Youth Justice Board.

Most of the artworks are for sale.  At least half of the proceeds go to the offender, with a contribution to Victim Support. We hold occasional public sales at our building at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London.  We will soon be selling artworks and merchandise through this website.

We were founded in 1962 by Arthur Koestler, author of the prison novel Darkness at Noon.

We need to raise £155,000 to meet our running costs in 2008-09. We have no endowment or capital. The Government gives us a grant that covers around a fifth of our costs, but it has an uncertain future. We could not survive without the generous support of businesses, charitable trusts and individual donors. Please support us if you can.

Judge Me Not
Judge Me Not
Garvey Thompson, HMP Risley
Kalyx Commended Award for Oil Painting, 2007

The Yard 2030
The Yard 2030
C King, Maghaberry Prison, Northern Ireland
Kalyx Commended Award for Painting 2007