The Saatchi Gallery is delighted to announce this year’s Saatchi Gallery/ Deutsche Bank Art Prize for Schools exhibition which will take place from 29 April – 4 May and will showcase artwork by 20 shortlisted students.

The Saatchi Gallery/ Deutsche Bank Art Prize for Schools is one of the largest international competitions open to primary, secondary and sixth form schools from around the world, who are invited to submit artwork by students up to the age of 18. This year the prize received over 20,000 entries from 33 countries.

The Saatchi Gallery has a 30-year-long history of supporting emerging artists and bringing contemporary art to as wide an audience as possible. The Saatchi Gallery/ Deutsche Bank Art Prize for Schools aims to support and encourage budding young artists by providing them with a platform to showcase their work, and giving them the confidence to consider a career in the arts.

Deutsche Bank's support of the Prize is part of the bank's commitment to help young people access creative opportunities and fulfil their potential. The support of Deutsche Bank’s youth engagement programme, Born to Be, has enabled the Saatchi Gallery to offer tailored artist-led workshops to pupils from schools in disadvantaged areas, increasing their understanding of fine art processes, having the opportunity to work with specialist art materials and giving them support in entering the prize.

Colin Grassie, Deutsche Bank UK CEO commented. "Deutsche Bank has long supported contemporary art and values the creativity and innovation which art can bring to young people's development. We are proud to support the Saatchi Gallery and its Art Prize for Schools which is an excellent example of how the arts can support education."

The panel of judges for this year's Prize include Lauren Child MBE, writer, illustrator and creator of 'Charlie and Lola'; Catherine Goodman, Artistic Director of The Royal Drawing Schools; Alistair Hicks, Art Advisor to Deutsche Bank; Nigel Hurst, CEO of the Saatchi Gallery and Richard Wilson, Artist whose sculpture 'Slipstream' was unveiled at Heathrow in 2014.

A first prize of £10,000 will be awarded to the winning school's art department, with a further £2,000 given to the winning pupil to be spent on art and computer equipment. Two further runner-up prizes of £5,000 each will be awarded to the second and third placed schools, with a further £1,000 to each of the winning pupils. The prize money provides art departments with the ability to install state of the art computer and printing equipment and provide high quality art materials which allow pupils to explore, develop and realise their creative potential.