Koestler Awards FAQs

The deadline for the 2025 Koestler Awards is 11 April 2024.

We aim to return unsold visual artwork to entrants by the end of April 2025.

Please keep us updated with your current address by emailing info@koestlerarts.org.uk or by writing to ‘Freepost KOESTLER ARTS’.

We have been working hard to ensure as many entrants as possible receive feedback on their work.

Some feedback was sent with certificates in October 2024. We will also be posting any additional feedback in December 2024.

The 2024 Koestler Awards results were announced at the end of August/beginning of September. A PDF document with details of all award-winning pieces has been uploaded to the Koestler Awards Results page.

The Koestler Awards are open to:

– anyone in custody in a UK prison, young offender institution, secure training centre, secure children’s home, immigration removal centre, or high or medium security psychiatric hospital or unit (including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man).

– any current client of the National Probation Service or a Community Rehabilitation Company, a Youth Offending Service, the Scottish Criminal Justice Social Work Service or their equivalents elsewhere in the UK.

– any UK citizen currently in a prison overseas (must submit via Prisoners Abroad).

Artworks may be submitted as an individual or a group entry.

Original work on any topic can be entered in any of the artforms listed in our guidance notes, up to a maximum of 5 in total.

The work should be from the last 12 months.

Do not enter artworks copied directly from other artworks.

Do not enter work that includes your name in the artwork or work made through purchased kits.

We currently accept artworks across 53 different categories. Take a look at our artwork gallery for examples from previous years and download our guidance notes for a full list of this year’s categories.

Each year we invite our entrants to have a go at producing a poem, drawing, painting, song or any other Koestler artform inspired by our Themed Category. The 2025 theme is ‘Wings’. More information about entering the Themed Category can be found in our guidance notes.

No! The Themed Category is there to act as an inspiration springboard for artists across all artforms.

Artists can enter any artwork created in the last 12 months on any topic.

Entrants can submit up to 5 entries into the Koestler Awards.

Download entry forms for this year’s Koestler Awards and fill in 1 entry form for each entry.

You are welcome to photocopy the form.

Follow the guidance notes for entering, noting that entry forms must be signed-off by an authorised member of staff.

Send items up to 2kg free using ‘Freepost KOESTLER ARTS’.

Pack work carefully so that it reaches us safely. The maximum weight limit is 15kg per parcel. Many establishments send a van of entries each year – ask if this happens at your establishment.

In the past, we featured first names and establishment names in our captions for public showcases, provided we had written permission from the entrants (over 18) and the establishments from which they entered. In September 2023, the prison service (HMPPS) requested that ‘all artists’ work be anonymised in consideration of victims and identity protection’. Since then, we have been unable to use first names in captions at our public showcases. All participants in the Koestler Awards still receive certificates with their full names (first and last name).

You can read our full statement here.

All entrants aged 18 and under can receive their certificate and feedback within 4-6 weeks of entry, and can enter at any point of the year. All entries must arrive with a completed under 18s entry form. The parcel containing the entry must be clearly marked ‘U18 Fast Feedback’ to be eligible.

Our Fast Feedback programme for those 18 and under was developed to address the special circumstance that young people face in the criminal justice sector. Sentences are often short and young people move through the system much more quickly. It provides an opportunity for young people to have their work recognised and celebrated before they move on.

Read more about the Fast Feedback Programme.

We produce Art Aid sheets to help inspire learners in prisons and other secure settings. On each PDF you will find a couple of activities that can be done using simple materials, and samples of past entries to the Koestler Awards.

We’re working with education provider Novus to help distribute these, through in-cell screens and paper packs, to their learners. If you’re an education provider or prison arts organisation, you can also download and use the sheets. (Please drop us a note to let us know you did.)