Each year the Alnwick in Bloom Committee organises a children's painting competition to encourage youngsters to take an interest in the quest to get Alnwick blooming! We also hope it will inspire them to take a greater interest in our surroundings, the town, nature, the environment, and gardening as a hobby.
In 2006, youngsters made a date with success when two of the Alnwick paintings made it all the way into the Northumbria in Bloom calendar.
Seven schools competed in the annual Alnwick in Bloom painting competition, which was judged by Ian August, The Alnwick Garden liaison director, who has been judging the competition for many years.
He said this year was particularly hard as the standard of paintings were extremely high. The competition was being organised by Alnwick in Bloom committee member Dianne Watson, who applauded the entries which flooded in from both middle and first schools in the town.
“There were some fantastic entries this year,” she said. “Even those that didn’t win were marvellous. There was a great turnout and the quality and standard was high. There was an interesting use of colours and you could tell there are some very clever children.”
Different age categories were given the chance to paint a picture of flowers relating to a certain month in the hope that their painting was selected to feature in a national calendar next year.
In Alnwick, 24 winners were selected to be put forward to the regional competition in Gateshead. The first, second and third winners, plus a highly commended from each category, were awarded vouchers at a ceremony in The Mechanics Institute on Monday, April 24, 2006.
The winners are pictured below: 
The Alnwick in Bloom schools painting competition winners
with Alnwick Mayor Mary Graham, judge Ian August,
The Alnwick Garden liaison director, and competition organiser
Dianne Watson.
Two of the winners,
Sarah Jane Thompson, 10, and Samantha Courty, 13, both of the Duke’s Middle School, took first place in their groups in the subsequent Northumbria in Bloom competition, trophies for their school and a month in the 2007 calendar.
Lilly Horgan, of Lindisfarne Middle School, scooped third place and several certificates of merit were handed out to other Alnwick pupils.
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