Winner of the Young Pavement Artists Competition announced

On Friday 19 October at The Royal Society in London, young people across the UK were honoured for their exceptional artistic talent and creative achievements in the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s Young Pavement Artists Competition 2007. TV presenter and competition president, Mark Speight was joined by R & B singer, Simon Webbe, at the special awards ceremony.

Overall national winner for the contemporary art competition was Arthur Morris, age 10 from Somerset. His winning drawing, which featured ‘Penguins from the Antarctic’, impressed the panel of judges from the Royal Academy of Arts to claim first prize.

Arthur Morris, age 10 said: “It was a wet day at school when we did the Young Pavement Artists Competition, so we did our pictures on paper. I looked at lots of books of animals from the Arctic and Antarctic to decide what I wanted to draw. I am very proud of my chalk drawing and never expected it to be chosen as the national winner. I hope my picture helps to make lots of money to help people with muscular dystrophy.”

The contemporary art competition, which has been running for 22 years, attracted over 14,000 participants who took part. The pavement art competition is organised by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and supported by the Royal Academy of Art.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Mark Speight said:
“Muscle disease affects at least 30,000 children and adults in the UK. The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s Young Pavement Artists Competition encourages children to explore their creative talents and gives them the chance to raise money to support people with muscle disease. Each year young people continue to produce fabulous pavement art for a good cause.

R&B singer, Simon Webbe said:
“I am delighted to be supporting the Young Pavement Artists Competition. It gives young people the opportunity to broaden their imaginations, raises awareness of environmental issues and, importantly, raises money for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign – the only UK charity supporting all people with muscle disease.”

Each year thousands of young people age 4-19 help raise awareness of muscle disease and raise funds by taking part in the Young Pavement Artists Competition. Participants pay £1 to enter the competition which benefits the charity.

The pavement art competition captures young people’s enthusiasm for art through the creation of chalk drawings, and encourages them to develop their drawing skills. To coincide with the International Polar Year (IPY) the 2007 theme was the Arctic and Antarctic.

Arthur Morris’s work, along with the winners from the six other categories of the art competition, will be showcased in an exhibition of floor posters hosted at the popular Jones Lang LaSalle, West One Shopping Centre in Oxford Circus. The exhibition of artworks will be open to the public until 9 November.

Coinciding with the awards ceremony was the announcement that a major research project which is supported by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign could offer new hope to boys and young men with muscular dystrophy. A new treatment, called molecular patch therapy, has been developed which has the potential to give boys born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) the chance to preserve their muscle function and live into old age.

Director of Research at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, said: “The start of the trial is exciting news because it will provide us with the evidence of how this promising technology will prevent the wasting of muscles in boys with Duchenne. In the last 47 years the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign has played a leading role in supporting research into Duchenne by investing over £10m. This is the first time that results from this type of research are so close to being translated into a treatment. We are proud that we were able to play a vital role in the formation of the scientific consortium and to support the preclinical work with more that half a million pounds. Our hopes are high that the outcome of this clinical study will be positive.”

Visit www.muscular-dystrophy.org/pavementart

To view Simon Webbe's website, follow this link http://www.simonwebbe.net