Koestler Trust

The art awards scheme for offenders, secure patients and detainees

We’re the UK’s best-known prison arts charity. We’ve been awarding, exhibiting and selling artworks by offenders, detainees and secure patients for over 55 years.

Our awards receive over 7,000 entries a year – inspiring offenders to take part in the arts, work towards positive achievements and transform their lives. Our national exhibition attracts 20,000 visitors – showing the public the talent and potential of offenders and people in secure settings.

We have no endowment or capital – our work depends entirely on donations.

Awards

Find out about the Koestler Awards and how to enter

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Events

Find out about our Events and how to attend

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Exhibitions

Find out about our exhibitions and events

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Mentoring

Find out about our mentoring programme

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Artforms and Award Winners

Learn about the Koestler Awards categories and browse winning entries

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Donate

Find out about how you can support us

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Buy Koestler original artwork, books and merchandise

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Press

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About us

Find out about our history, staff, job opportunities and how we are funded

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Twitter

We have launched new pages on our website about our work with young people in custody! Click through to read John's… https://t.co/cWLOj9pyGq Wednesday 20th of March 2019, 2:54:30 pm
@HMPGrendSpring welcome to Twitter! We love seeing the creative output from Grendon each year! Keep up the good work https://t.co/j9IvF2V4Le Tuesday 19th of March 2019, 11:40:47 pm
Over the next couple of weeks we will be shining a light on the work entered into the #Koestler Awards by our young… https://t.co/tnCPuhPVMt Tuesday 19th of March 2019, 4:20:08 pm
It's only a week until our @BBCRadio4 charity appeal! On Sunday 24 @jeremydeller's message about John, a… https://t.co/oRc5cReNAa Sunday 17th of March 2019, 9:00:33 am
At @TCMargate there are fantastic views of changing skies outside. There is both light & shade in our exhibition th… https://t.co/MmwIFvQclv Saturday 16th of March 2019, 10:00:18 am
It's great to see that the barista course at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs is having such a positive effect on attendee… https://t.co/Yv2wpnCnDY Thursday 14th of March 2019, 11:55:24 am
@HMPSwaleside so glad that you've been to see our exhibition 'We Made This' @TCMargate. We were delighted to featur… https://t.co/4uEW0RcWyc Wednesday 13th of March 2019, 2:12:32 pm
Our exhibition at @snapemaltings in August 2019, during the #SnapeProms, will focus on music & performance entered… https://t.co/xH60na9fO9 Wednesday 13th of March 2019, 10:45:08 am
Today has marked a big moment in our annual calendar - we have started logging in the first artworks for the 2019… https://t.co/DRNFVu4cv6 Tuesday 12th of March 2019, 5:27:29 pm
We were delighted to welcome 9 new mentors for training last week! We pair recently released prisoners with arts pr… https://t.co/tJkYPZ6DuM Monday 11th of March 2019, 4:05:13 pm
'What I learned from my semester studying with prisoners' - a criminology student writes about studying at HMP Pent… https://t.co/PALFDpiAe1 Monday 11th of March 2019, 10:34:56 am
#Calligraphy is a really varied category in the annual #KoestlerAwards - from poems and beautiful handwriting to gr… https://t.co/Ivts2KKDxq Sunday 10th of March 2019, 11:00:46 am
The artist of this painting, featured in our exhibition 'We Made This' @TCMargate, told us 'Being creative makes li… https://t.co/K4d5TTYYSd Saturday 9th of March 2019, 11:00:59 am
It's #InternationalWomensDay, & on this day last year we held the launch of our art trail #100YearOn, displaying ar… https://t.co/bvtfVIoOcm Friday 8th of March 2019, 10:00:31 am
Just a few days left to apply to be a new member of the Koestler Team! We need a Data Entry Assistant to help us wi… https://t.co/mGPYSBV4ec Thursday 7th of March 2019, 2:56:19 pm
It's #WorldBookDay! We're celebrating the fantastic range of written work entered into the #KoestlerAwards. You can… https://t.co/dHEPIva1ko Thursday 7th of March 2019, 12:05:09 pm
We're delighted to take part in @BBCRadio4's charity appeal later this month, with a campaign focusing on our work… https://t.co/o6Cr9s5qMy Tuesday 5th of March 2019, 4:11:49 pm
RT @forder_phil: This has to be 1 of the most amazing #matchstick #models I have ever seen. Made by 8 men working together in HMP Parc. the… Tuesday 5th of March 2019, 10:18:55 am
This painting is an explosion of colour in our exhibition @TCMargate. 'Spontaneous Fusion' was entered from HMP Sta… https://t.co/C0uGQJHlv0 Monday 4th of March 2019, 5:00:22 pm
Paul, one of a group of people on probation who curated our new exhibition at @TCMargate, has spoken about how art… https://t.co/jIYFWO2ic0 Sunday 3rd of March 2019, 11:00:34 am

Support Us

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Contact us

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Our Impact

Find out about the impact of our work

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The art awards scheme for offenders, secure patients and detainees

2019 Koestler Awards

100 Years On

2018 Koestler Awards Results

Awards

Events

Exhibitions

Mentoring

Artforms and Award Winners

Donate

Shop

Sign up for our newsletter

Press

About us

Twitter

Support Us

Contact us

Our Impact