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1. Living in a diverse world

Strong communities cope well with diversity. RE can make a good contribution to communities by teaching pupils about the wisdom of religious and non-religious worldviews on human equality and by challenging negative attitudes. We are all different, and all religions are different – but are we all the same too? What holds our communities together? Is it faith? Hope? Love? Music? Sport? What threatens to tear us apart – racism, hatred, bigotry? How can we conquer the forces of division? Teachers and pupils might focus on their local community, look at a national perspective or even consider a global community.

Winning work will…

Refer to specific ideas and quotes from religious and non-religious worldviews.

Make a work of art that shows what living in community means.

Think carefully about how racism and other negative attitudes can be reduced and conquered for a better human race.

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2. Stories that change lives

The power of religion is often shared in stories: Think of stories of the Buddha, Krishna or Gandhi, Jesus’ parables, stories of Jacob or Moses, Guru Nanak or the Prophets of Islam (don’t picture them!). This theme asks you to choose one story from religion – ancient or modern – and show in your artwork how it can make a difference to a person’s life today. Here are some examples: the story of poor suffering Job, or of the Four Sights of Siddhartha in Buddhism, and think deeply to create a brilliant image of the story and its power. Can you use a non-religious story? Yes - if it has power to change lives! Good entries may link ancient and modern, or perhaps draw upon more recent stories for inspiration. Younger pupils may love this theme. It could be a chance to do class project work, grand scale group entries, based on a shared story. Senior students may tackle a less well-known example, bringing out true meanings in the art.

Winning work will…

Refer to a specific story or more than one story and show understanding of the power of a story or stories to change people’s lives.

Demonstrate deep and original thinking about the meaning(s) of the story, linking the content of the story with ideas and beliefs – a simple storyboard or illustration of a frame from a story isn’t going to be a winner!

Link stories with people’s lives, with creativity and imagination.

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3. Thinking about God?

How do people envisage God? Why do visions of God differ around the world? Atheist, agnostics and theistic pupils can all respond to this theme. Express your ideas about God with some original creativity. Where is God? Who is God? The great creator? Prayer answerer? He or she? Above us all or in every human heart? Or is she hiding? Is he not there at all? Unreal? Imaginary? If you wanted to find out who God is where would you search? Google or a ‘god-detector’? Is God on Instagram, TikTok or WhatsApp? Can we know God by praying and worshipping, or serving people in need? What do you think about when you think of the word ‘God’?

Note: The ‘where is God?’ theme from previous years fits well here.

Winning work will…

Show deep thought and consideration, and present ideas with creative flair and imagination.

Demonstrate understanding of some key ideas about God/the divine… older pupils might include theological reflection as well as philosophical argument to make great artwork.

Make good use of religious and / or non-religious ideas and concepts of God (or lack thereof!)

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4. Sacred Places

Mosque and Mandir, Church and Chapel, Gurdwara and Synagogue, a special place at home or outside in nature: spaces for wonder and awe, for ritual and symbol, for believers and visitors. This theme could be a space for photography, collage, group work or reflections on class trips to places of worship. But then some people’s sacred space is on the beach, in the mountains, by the riverside. And for others, it is in the city, among the people who carry heavy loads, even in war-torn space – can God be found there? This theme will be popular with primary class groups who have been on a trip, but 14-19s with a sacred space of their own can win too.

Winning work will…

Demonstrate why the chosen space is sacred – either to themselves, or the community it serves.

Where applicable, draw on key texts from RE lessons in their explanations.

Show creative and thoughtful reflection about what makes a space (or spaces) sacred.

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5. All God's Creatures?

Do animals belong to God? Are they part of a divine plan? Do animals have souls? The beauty and sheer awesomeness of non-human animals with whom we share planet Earth is celebrated in many of the world’s religions. Respect for the worth of all animals is at the hearts of some non-religious worldviews too, like Ethical Veganism. Some worldviews see all living beings as interconnected, yet others emphasise the separateness and superiority of humans over other animals. Animals play a huge part in all our lives, whether we realise or not. How humans interact with other animals and the natural world impacts on all living beings and the planet. This theme invites exploration of ideas and beliefs about non-human animals. Challenge learners to engage thoughtfully with scripture, philosophy, and scientific enquiry to write an inspiring passage to accompany stunning images.

Note: The ‘Why do animals matter?’ theme from last year fits well here.

Winning work will…

Show originality and flare coming from deep consideration of the issues.

Reference specific religious or non-religious worldviews, perhaps referring to specific texts, stories or traditions.

Go beyond simply picturing animals – beautiful though they are – and engage show thought and reflection on the issues relating to animals, and human attitudes and actions towards them.

Generously sponsored by Veganism in Education (VinE) and the Animal Interfaith Alliance (AIA). The RE Today suite of resources on Ethical Veganism which span all age groups will support engagement with this theme.

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6. Making sense of life

Religious and non-religious worldviews offer answers to fundamental questions raised by human experience. What is the nature of ultimate reality? What is truly real – material stuff, love, spiritual forces, the divine? Can we know anything at all? What is the purpose of living – pleasure, service, procreation, growth, creativity, submission to God? What is our destiny? How do we decide how to live? Create a piece that reflects some of the big questions raised by being human, and the answers your worldview offers – or a selection of worldview responses to compare. The best work will balance theological and philosophical thinking with creative expression.

Winning work will…

Show deep reflection and consideration around at least one big question that helps us to make sense of life.

Make reference to specific ideas from religions and worldviews.

Demonstrate creative flair and originality that comes from thinking hard about the theme.

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Artwork Title: Earth is Our Home – God’s Good Earth

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Artwork Title: Earth is Our Home – God’s Good Earth

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The theme I have chosen for my poster is God's good earth. I've chosen this theme because I think it is very important for us to look after the earth because it is our home and if we don't look after it, then the next generation won't get to see the beautiful earth, that would just see the problems that we have. I hope that my poster raises awareness and makes people want to do their part in protecting the earth.

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Artwork Title: A Little Kindness (Movie)

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Artwork Title: A Little Kindness (Movie)

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For our movie, we wrote a poem based around our idea and to give it some context.

Poem in Video

When we were learning about all the nice things people do for others in our unit in RE, we especially liked learning about the Sikhs attitude to helping others and the langar. Particularly there is a charity based in London called SWAT, the Sikh Welfare and Awareness Team, who feed the homeless and desperate in central London. What they so, they never ask for anything back and we liked the acts of kindness they showed. We than created our movie based around the idea of putting your faith into action but one simple act of kindness and how much that can mean.

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A Little Kindness by Kyle Rutherford, Bronwyn Evans, Aaron McMillan, Bailey O'Donnell.

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Artwork Title: Faith without work is dead.

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Artwork Title: Faith without work is dead.

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The quote we chose that represents our piece of art is from James 2:26 reading, “Faith without work is dead.” Our painting is trying to show that you cannot have faith without showing it in your actions. The people in the dark shirts are Christian’s who think by just being Christian without being truly faithful with their actions can grant them eternal life in heaven. Whereas the people on the path are those who have shown true faith and have been good people for God. Our paint also relates to the topic of “The roots and the fruit.” This follows the metaphor that if a tree does not have strong roots, then it cannot bear good fruit except in this circumstance the roots is a symbol for faith and the fruit is a symbol for our relationship with God. This links to our picture because our picture shows that the people on the path have true faith in God therefore, they have a good relationship with him and are granted the entrance to heaven. However, the people not on the path do not have true faith in God and do not have a good relationship with him. One last biblical story that relates to this is the story of the blind man. This is because his faith had healed him of things that he had never seen with his own eyes. This links to our image because it shows that if you have string faith Christ will reward you.

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Artwork Title: Bad news is just good news in disguise, you just have to look for it.

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Artwork Title: Bad news is just good news in disguise, you just have to look for it.

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The theme I chose was “faith in action, values in action” because if you believe in life and look for the good values you will find the happy things in life. The title I chose is because it was a quote I heard, and it helped me find the positive in life and live at peace with myself and others.
My artwork shows a piece of paper full of sad and depressing words with a microscope laid on top looking down and then inside are happy and fulfilling words which symbolise that is you look closely; you will find the positives. To create my artwork, I first stuck a piece of plain card to a red piece of paper. I then spent hours writing out the words repeatedly. Next, I used watercolour pencils to draw the microscope and then wrote the happy words inside.
The artistic style I chose was realism to give the viewer a connected feel to the work. I am pleased with how much work I put in and how I represented the theme and quote.

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My artwork is based on the theme ‘Green Faith, Green Future’. I chose this subject because I don’t think people understand how important the subject is since we could cause the world to end… Also, I am quite passionate about it, especially because we could be the reason for the world ending which is very sad.
I based my artwork on the quote: ‘only when the last tree has died, and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realise that we cannot eat money.’ After researching, I found out it was a Native American saying. I also found out that it was a Cree Indian Proverb. Proverbs are short sayings that are used to state general truth and give pieces of advice.
I like this quote because I think it has a deeper meaning to it. I believe that it is trying to tell people that if we keep destroying Earth just for money, when everything on Earth dies out, all the money that we have collected will be useless. This is because our money isn’t worth anything if we don’t have Earth because we can’t use money. So, in shorter words we need to put our planet over money.
To connect my artwork to this quote I decided to take a picture of someone trying to eat money but realizing they can’t. I really wanted to capture the quote, so I tried to add as much detail to the picture as possible: The person in the photo would appear to have a great life, she has an expensive dress and lots of money. This person represents someone who thinks that money is more important than nature. The person in the photo Is actually quite sad because all her money is useless because she can’t use it. If you look closely in the background, there are dead plants and nature. This represents everything in the world has died out. I also edited the whole photo to give it a dark tone. I did this to put an emphasis pm the fact the world is ‘dead’.
I think that my artwork represents the quote really well because it included most of the things that the quote mentions. Overall, I am really happy with the result of my art piece.

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The Painting 'My Dream Earth' portrays a harmonious vision of our planet, interwoven with diverse beliefs advocating its protection. Amidst a serene green field and open sky, a shining sun illuminates a girl in prayer, symbolizing the unity of humanity in safeguarding the Earth. This artwork epitomizes the responsibility we all bear to preserve our planet from disasters caused by environmental negligence. It serves as a poignant reminder that irrespective of our beliefs, protecting the Earth is a collective obligation. By fostering awareness and taking sustainable actions, we can strive towards a shared dream of a resilient and thriving Earth for generations to come.

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Each entry should consist of a piece of art, which can be physical, literary, or created using technology. It should be based on one of the themes. AND there should be a corresponding write-up, limited to 400 words.

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Each entry should consist of a piece of art, which can be physical, literary, or created using technology. It should be based on one of the themes. AND there should be a corresponding write-up, limited to 400 words.

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Entries will be judged by the Heads of RE of the schools in Southampton.

Three overall winners will be selected. Prizes TBC.

There will be additional prizes given for different categories.

All winners will receive a certificate.

We will show the winning artwork in the Southampton Civic Centre for public display.

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We welcome entries in (almost!) any art form your pupils can think of, including:

Art (painting, drawing, sketching, etc)

Poetry

Photography

Dance

Music

Drama

Sculpture