Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Creative P&J paper boy wins prestigious youth award for ‘most inspiring artwork’

Alistair Smith
Alistair Smith's self-portrait was chosen above more than 20,000 other entries for the exhibition.

Creative P&J paper boy Alistair Smith is one of only 14 in the UK who claimed a prize at the Royal Academy of Arts Young Artists’ Summer Show.

Going up against over 21,500 other submitted artworks from artists aged 4-19, the young artist from Kingswells won the prize for “most inspiring artwork”.

As well as winning £500 worth of vouchers for materials for his school and £100 for himself, Alistair’s submitted piece also formed part of a special exhibition in London.

The 17-year-old entered a lino print named “Self Study”, a self portrait using a form of print making.

‘Loved art for most of my life’

Talking about his artwork, he said: “I find doing the lino cut quite relaxing once you get in the rhythm.

“I chose to do a self-portrait as I’ve never really done one before and I thought it would be a good thing to do to challenge myself.”

Alistair said he wanted to represent how he used music during the pandemic and studying for school to help remove and forget stress and worries and to “lift his spirits”.

When he heard back from the Royal Academy, Alistair said he was shocked: “I was amazed to just get in and then I found out later that I had won a prize which was incredible.”

Alistair Smith
Alistair pictured with his submitted piece at the exhibition in London. Supplied by Sheila Batchelor.

He and his family went down to visit the exhibition in London. He added: “It was very exciting to see the piece in the actual building itself instead of just in my room or somewhere else.”

The Bucksburn Academy student said he has “loved art for most of his life” and will be carrying out his advanced higher art next year.

He added that receiving the prize has made him more confident in lino print and he hopes to study illustration or fine art at university.

Alistair has been a P&J paper boy for about four years now and says the early mornings have given him more time to “feel awake before school”.

He said: “I’d encourage everybody to try and do it because it’s a lot easier to fit around like a Saturday job or an after school job because it wakes you up as well as giving you a routine.”

An ambition for a lot of artists

His mum, Sheila Batchelor, said she and the family were very proud of his achievement: “We’re obviously delighted that he’s won the award.

“It’s an ambition for lots of artists so it’s really exciting that he has got something in the youth show.

“It was amazing he got but it was even more amazing that he won one of the prizes.”

She said Alistair has always drawn a lot: “He used to and still does make little ‘zines. Really from primary school, he’s been interested in printmaking and art.”

The trip to see the exhibition was a “big celebration” and Ms Batchelor said it was a “massive thrill” to see Alistair’s work hanging on display.

Conversation