In this 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 11-year-old Robbie Goddard from George Heriot's School has been named the Edinburgh regional winner of the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Schools Poster Competition.
Launched in 1980, and currently supported by Virgin Money, the competition is one of Scotland’s longest-running arts outreach projects. This year, 238 classes from 187 schools across Scotland entered the competition with over 5,500 pupils submitting inspirational and unique designs in response to the creative brief.
The competition’s top prize offers the next generation of artists the unique opportunity to design the cover of the official Fringe Programme and, for the first time, schoolchildren were encouraged to submit their entries in any art form of their choice, such as photography, poetry, digital creations, sculptures, illustrations, paintings and print work, giving them the freedom to express their ideas and explore their creativity.
The competition was judged by an expert panel, with representatives from Education Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council, Dynamic Earth, the Fringe Society, Whitespace, Virgin Money as well as the competition’s champion artist, Jon Bishop a.k.a The Grey Earl who says of Robbie’s entry, “Creativity is something to be celebrated and nurtured both in school and throughout life. Robbie’s entry is a poem titled ‘A Worldly Tasting Session’. His poem likens the Fringe to the whole world – jungle, city and sea – creating a vivid image of the adventure and discovery to be had at the Fringe.”
Robbie’s winning design will be displayed as part of a special free exhibition, open to the public, at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh from 06 June to the 28 August 2017, alongside 13 other regional winners, the three winning designs and more than 150 shortlisted designs.
Robbie’s full poem is:
A Worldly Tasting Session
The Fringe is a festival of culture and colours, hot!
The world in a city is what I thought,
Jungle and market planets too!
And also, the ocean, fish, yellow and blue.
SPLASH! I was swimming in a Scottish Atlantis,
Surrounded by fish, green, like a praying Mantis,
The stalls were sea anemones, swaying to and fro!
And when a shady hawker smiled, he was a shark from below.
The Royal Mile was a jungle-like maze,
Hard to believe the Fringe is just a phase,
The crowds were leaves, incredibly close packed,
And the vines were posters, onto the wall they were tacked.
Finally, the jungle was left behind,
And on a vibrant market place the sun finally shined,
People pushing and shoving, hardly in queues
Everything was colourful, the sky an exotic hue.
And finally, the show was ready, quiet! Lights out!
Phones recording were stars and for selfies a few did a pout,
The dancers became planets spinning around the sun,
I don’t want the Fringe to end, it’s amazing, such fun!
By Robbie Goddard