Judge for the Drawing Prize

Eileen Cooper is a respected artist known for her strong and passionate commitment to figuration. Studying first at Goldsmiths College (1971-74) and then at the Royal College of Art (1974-77) she went on to teach at a wide range of art schools including St Martin’s, the Royal College of Art, City & Guilds in London and latterly at the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2000 she was elected a Royal Academician. From 2010-17 Cooper served as Keeper of the Royal Academy, one of only 4 officers selected from the 80 Royal Academicians, and with primary responsibility for the Royal Academy Schools, thereby becoming the first woman to be elected to this role since the RA began in 1768. Originally from the Peak District, Cooper has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. Her work is held in many public and private collections such as the Arts Council Collection; the British Museum; Manchester Art Gallery; Mima, Middlesborough; New Hall Art Collection, University of Cambridge; the Royal Collection; Victoria & Albert Museum; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Kunsthalle, Nuremberg; Walpole Library, Yale University.

She was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Art and Art Education in 2016. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art, and of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Southampton Solent University in 2014.

Judge for Year 7 to Year 9

Patrick Cullen is a painter in oils, pastels and watercolours, known for his scenes of Tuscany, Andalucia and Southern France, in all seasons and weathers. Over the past fifteen years he has also made a number of trips to India, painting and sketching in the streets and markets of Rajasthan and Gujarat, culminating in solo exhibitions at Indar Pastricha Fine Arts, London W2 in 2010, '13 and '16. Trips to India with painters Ken Howard RA, Peter Brown NEAC and Neale Worley NEAC led to a four man show at Indar Pasricha Fine Arts in October 2015. He is a member of the New English Art Club (NEAC). He has received numerous awards and prizes for his paintings, most recently the critics prize at the NEAC annual show 2016. In 2015 he was a prize winner at the Lynn Painter Stainer Prize, having been a finalist for the previous three years.

Judge for Year 4 to Year 6

At the age of eight James Hart Dyke saw a small oil study by John Constable, which inspired him to start painting narrative landscapes. His love of the landscape has always been central to his work. James gravitates to spatially dramatic locations such as remote mountain ranges, often enduring physically demanding expeditions. He has a strong interest in the Early Romantic Movement which played a large part in the popularisation of the Alps and which lead to the notion of the ‘sublime.’ Although James’s paintings are still very much inspired by the studies of John Constable, his work is also influenced by Abstract Expressionist, a movement which focused on paint texture and composition.

James has also undertaken a series of projects including ‘artist in residence’ for The British Secret Intelligence Service, artist embedded with the British Forces, working for the producers of the James Bond films, working for Aston Martin and accompanying HRH The Prince of Wales on royal tours. These projects allowed him to experiment with more graphic forms of painting influenced by his studies as an architect at the Royal College of Art.

Judge for Year 2 and Year 3

James Lloyd was born in 1971. He studied for his Foundation at Blackpool College of Art (1987-89) and BA Fine Art at Coventry University (1989-92), followed by a Postgraduate Higher Diploma at the Slade School of Fine Art(1994-96). James has had various solo exhibitions at galleries in London (Browse & Darby) and Frankfurt (Huebner & Huebner). He has also exhibited in many group shows such as 'Being Present' (Jerwood Space, London 2004), 'Direct Painting' (Kunsthalle Mannheim 2004) and 'Mythos Atelier' (Staatsgalarie Stuttgart 2012). In 1997 James won the BP Portrait Award, the Discerning Eye in 2003 and the Ondaatje Portrait Prize at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition in 2008. He was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint Sir Paul Smith in 1998, Lord David Simon in 1998 and Dame Maggie Smith in 2012. He has painted other high profile figures including HM The Queen, Lord Derry Irvine and Lord David Owen.

Judge for Year 10 and Year 11 Painting and the Printmaking Prizes

Chris Orr was born in Islington London 1943. A Student at the Royal College of Art 1964-1967 he subsequently taught in many Art Schools. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1995 and made Professor of Printmaking at the Royal College of Art 1998-2008. He was awarded an MBE and made Professor Emeritus in 2008. As Treasurer of the Royal Academy 2014-18 he was deeply involved in the Burlington project. He exhibits annually at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the London Original Print Fair. His work is in public collections including The Arts Council of England, The British Council, The British Museum, The Government Art Collection, The Palace of Westminster Collection, The Ruskin Library at Lancaster University, The Queens Collection, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Science Museum, Tate Britain, and The Victoria and Albert Museum.

Chris started making prints in his twenties, and discovered the power of the multiple to communicate. A medium like etching extended and enhanced his drawing, opening up new possibilities. Lithography was a process that offered wonderful freedom. Recently, silkscreen and engraving have begun to play a big part. Printmaking is a way of taking his thoughts into a published public domain. He engages with contemporary life and a sense of how the past has shaped us and back in the studio his imagination runs riot. He has been described as a social surrealist. What may start as a mundane observation can blossom into something very different. Those who collect his work, and there are many, talk of a life-long engagement with the world contained within his pictures. Chris Orr Lives and works in London.

Judge for The Vice-Chancellor’s Prize

Dr Paul Thompson is a leading authority on art and design having worked at the intersection of culture and education for three decades.

Throughout his leadership of three international institutions – the Royal College of Art, the National Design Museum in New York, and the UK’s Design Museum – he has championed the best of design and fostered a positive environment for artists and innovators to flourish.

Dr Thompson has been Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, the internationally renowned art and design postgraduate university, since 2009.