Art Competition – My Wales Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A themed painting or drawing class in a Welsh schools festival, with one entry per school for each year group from Reception to Year 6, on the set theme “My Wales”, whose points count towards the overall phase winner.

Art Competition – My Wales is the visual-art class of a Welsh schools’ eisteddfod. Where the other classes in the festival are sung, recited, danced or played on the day, this one is made in advance: pupils create a painting or drawing in school, the finished pictures are sent in, and they are judged alongside the live items. The theme is set for the whole class and is called “My Wales” (Fy Nghymru in Welsh), so every entry is an answer to the same question: what does Wales mean to a child of this age?

The class is organised by school year, not by a single age band. There is one class for each year group from Reception up to Year 6, seven in all, and no nursery class. Each school may send one entry per year group. That entry can come from a single pupil or from a group of pupils of the same year working together, which is why the eTalenter template lets each year group take both an individual and a team entry, the only groups in this festival that accept both.

Only paintings or drawings are accepted, so collage, models and digital work are outside the class. Each picture is labelled on the back with the school, the pupil’s name and the year group, and it is delivered to the organiser’s office by a closing date set before the festival days, not carried on the day. The pictures are judged separately from the live classes, and their points are added to the school’s total.

Organisers include an art class because it lets pupils who are not comfortable singing, reciting or dancing in front of an audience earn points for their school, and because a shared theme turns a festival of language and music into a festival of place. Teachers like it because it needs no rehearsal time on the stage and can be done in ordinary lessons.

Where Art Competition – My Wales is run

In eTalenter’s data this exact item, Art Competition – My Wales, is carried by one template: a community council’s schools’ eisteddfod in Wales, run for Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2 pupils. Themed school art classes sit beside music and speech in many festivals and eisteddfodau, and other pages on this site cover the wider painting and drawing items, but this page describes the class only as that edition runs it and does not claim wider use of the title.

• Wales (United Kingdom)

Key facts

• Theme: the set theme is “My Wales” (Fy Nghymru); every entry in every year group answers the same theme.
• Seven year-group classes: Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6. There is no nursery class.
• One entry per school for each year group, from a single pupil or from a group of pupils of that year; the template therefore accepts both an individual and a team entry in each year group.
• Medium: paintings or drawings only; the picture is made beforehand and sent in, labelled on the back with school, pupil name and year group.
• Points: art points count towards the overall winner of each phase, using the festival’s printed scale of 10 for first, 8 for second, 6 for third and 2 for merit.
• The booklet prints no marked criteria and no time limit for this class, so none are assumed; the template carries a single mark out of 100, and the year-group age bands in it are placeholders.

On eTalenter, Art Competition – My Wales is filed under Art and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Art Competition – My Wales is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100.

What judges look at in Art Competition – My Wales

What a Art Competition – My Wales panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Fit to the theme: the first question a judge asks is whether the picture is clearly about Wales. A recognisable place, flag, animal, food, festival or family scene reads at once; a lovely picture with no link to the theme is hard to place.
• Originality and personal view: judges tend to reward a child’s own idea over a copied logo or a tracing. A picture of the pupil’s own street, grandparent or favourite walk is more convincing than a stock dragon.
• Composition and use of the sheet: the subject should fill the page with a clear foreground and background, rather than a small figure floating in white space. Careful planning of where things go is visible even in a Reception drawing.
• Colour and technique: whether the paint or pencil is used with care and confidence, with colours that suit the subject, paint that is not overworked into mud, and drawing lines that are deliberate. The standard is judged against the year group, not against older pupils.
• Finish and presentation: complete, tidy and clearly labelled. An unfinished corner, a torn edge or a missing label on the back creates avoidable problems when the work is sorted and displayed.
• Neither the template nor the booklet prints marks for these headings, so they are general advice on what an art judge looks at, not a published marking scheme. Check the organiser’s notice for the exact criteria.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Art Competition – My Wales under Scoring Setup, or start from the full painting and drawing competition judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Art Competition – My Wales

How entrants and their teachers usually get Art Competition – My Wales right on the day:

• Start about three weeks before the closing date. Week one: talk about the theme and collect ideas. Week two: sketch and choose one idea. Week three: make the final picture and add the label on the back.
• Teach the theme before the pencil. Ask the class what they associate with Wales and list the answers on the board, then let each pupil pick something personal, such as a place they have visited or a person who lives there.
• Decide early whether the school’s entry for each year is one pupil’s work or a group picture. A group picture needs a plan for who draws what, so the result looks like one picture and not a patchwork.
• Keep to paintings and drawings only. Do not glue on objects, sequins or printed images, because the class accepts only paintings or drawings.
• Use good paper and clean materials. Check that the sheet fits the organiser’s requirements, let paint dry flat, and place a protective sheet between pictures when you carry them.
• Label the back clearly with school, pupil name and year group, as the rules ask, using a pencil or a stuck-on label that will not mark the front.
• Allow for delivery. Pictures must reach the council office by the printed date, and the following week is half term in the booklet’s year, so plan delivery with the office rather than leaving it to the last afternoon.
• Ideas, not rules: a map of the child’s own village with landmarks, a drawing of a favourite Welsh food or festival, a mountain or coastline in the child’s favourite colours, a family walking a local path, or a picture of a Welsh word the pupil has learned.
• After a result, show the winning year groups’ pictures to the whole school and ask what made them stand out; use that to choose a stronger idea next year.

Frequently asked questions

Is Art Competition – My Wales judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

What is the theme of the art competition?

In the edition covered here, the theme is “My Wales”, written Fy Nghymru in Welsh. All year groups paint or draw to the same theme.

Can a group of pupils make one entry?

Yes. A school may send one entry per year group, and that entry can come from a single pupil or from a group of pupils of that year. The template accepts both an individual and a team entry in each year group.

Are collage or models allowed?

No. In this edition only paintings or drawings are accepted. Check the organiser’s notice before adding any other material to a picture.

Are the pictures judged on the day?

No. The pictures are made in advance and sent in, labelled on the back, by a closing date before the festival days. They are judged separately from the live classes, and their points count towards the overall winner of the phase.

Is there a marking scheme or time limit?

The booklet prints neither a marked criteria table nor a time limit for the art class. It prints the points that placings earn for the school (10, 8, 6 and a merit point of 2), so judging focus is best treated as general advice on theme, originality, composition and finish.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full painting and drawing competition judging criteria guide, or browse every art competition item.