Excitement is building amongst artists in the Forest of Dean as the winner of the Newent Art Competition will be announced tomorrow.

The 2018 competition, sponsored by The Secret Gallery in Newent, received a record 67 entries from keen amateur artists from the Forest of Dean as well as their professional counterparts. This year’s competition will be judged by Bill Anderton, Kenny John of Creates Magazine and Creates Gallery and Hannah Ferguson of The Secret Gallery in Newent.

“We’re delighted with the entries for this year’s competition,” said Hannah Ferguson. She continued: “All the judges met yesterday to decide on the winning entry, it was such a difficult decision as the quality of artwork on show was of the highest quality. The winner will be announced tomorrow, along with several highly commended entries.

“The winning entry will receive a cash prize of £250 as well as a two-page feature article in Creates magazine, a major art publication. To narrow the 67 entries down to one winner wasn’t easy, it shows the quality of artists we have here in the Forest of Dean.

“We’ve received such a diverse collection of entries, from paintings to sculptures to photography and textiles. There’s no age limit for our competition, we’ve seen entries from children right through to artists in their 70s. The theme for this year’s competition is music, so every entry, whether it’s a painting, a sculpture or some other art form will reflect a musical style.

“The idea behind the competition was to bring together poets, musicians and artists from Newent and create an annual event that the town can be proud of. As well as announcing the winner of the art competition tomorrow there will also be live music and poetry, it promises to be a great day and I’d encourage anyone who has an interest in the arts to pay us a visit.”

All the entries for the 2018 Newent Art Competition will be exhibited in The Secret Gallery tomorrow, with the exhibition running through to 8th September.