Selection Process
We received 88 submissions for Craft School: Material World 2023-24. All submissions were first reviewed in a session bringing together several Crafts Council project teams, including learning and participation, Collect art fair, Young Craft Citizens and our Crafts editorial team. Submissions were grouped by key stage and assessed against the following criteria: Craft-Based, Risk Taking and Development as Makers.
Next, a shortlist from each Key Stage was created and this was assessed by an external panel:
Michele Gregson, National Society for Education in Art & Design
Bran Howell, Eden Project
Bill Lucas, University of Winchester Centre for Real World Learning
Sana Maulvi, independent artist and Young Craft Citizens member
Jake Solomon, trustee, Crafts Council
The panel agreed on three winning submissions and two further submissions to be highly commended..
The Eden Project Award
All 88 submissions were also assessed for the Eden Project Award and a longlist of six created. The submissions in this longlist were then discussed by Bran Howell and his team at Eden project, creating a shortlist of three. The final decision about the winning submission was decided by all of the learners involved the Craft School: Material World 2023-4 cohort.
Bran Howell then shared the shortlist with everyone attending Craft School: Material World's online celebration event; each of the three schools talked about their project and shared their learning journey. Each school participating in the celebration event discussed the projects and voted for the one they felt most deserved the award.