Artist Amelia Crouch has won Arvon's Word Art Competiton with 'Concourse Quartet' - a photograph of a billboard public artwork in Leeds Railway Station. Amelia wins a free Arvon course of her choice.

See the winning entry and 12 highly commended images on Pinterest

The competition asked for digital images that combined creativie writing with visual imagery. Graham Rawle, the competition judge, said of the winner:

"There were some great entries, but for me this one stood out as the winner. The interplay between image and text is nicely balanced. The picture leads your eye in to discover the text on the station wall: an unremarkable yet compelling description of rail travellers. The observer is quietly taking it all in, making note the fleeting fragments of story as they pass through the station. I love the line about the man shunting his holdall along the floor. Like the photograph, this is clearly observed; the author is really there – watching what was going on and I think that shows in the writing. The detail in this piece reveals the universal truths that resonate with everyone who has ever spent time on a station concourse, their bag between their ankles, drinking bad coffee and eating a Ginster’s pastie – idly watching the people around them as they pass through the station on their way to or from somewhere."

 

The following images were highly commended:

The Snowdome -   Mick Robertson

Footsteps -  Claire Collison

anger expert -  Nikki Magennis

Paddling Pool – Claire Collison

untitled -  Anna Cady

Postcard to heaven  - Barbara Barber

untitled - Jennifer Burns

untitled - Heidi Ball

layers  - Hannah Simpson

sheepgrip  - Jude Brown

Grow - Sarah Grinstead

Birdcage ending  – Michael Lynch

 

Graham Rawle: "There were other clever ideas and some wonderful writing in the runners-up. You need to be economical and focused to get one piece where the image and text work together as one and these are some of the more successful ones I saw."

 

Graham Rawle is tutoring on 'Text and Image' - a 5 day Arvon residential course 13-18 August 2012. Places are still available - see http://arvonfoundation.org/text-and-image-3