The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) have announced the shortlist of the 2025 Global edition of their annual art prize for secondary school students, with £4,300 in grants on offer for winning artists and their schools. Among the talented young artists vying for the title of ‘Global’ winner are the winners from The Gibraltar Students Prize – Zoe Payas of Bayside Comprehensive School and Eve Abudarham of Prior Park School. 

Launched in Hong Kong in 2003, SAF is a non-profit organisation that promotes contemporary art talent through its international art prizes, while raising funds for various charitable programmes. The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prizes run in twelve countries and are designed to celebrate the importance of art in the education system by identifying talented young artists and rewarding successful secondary-school art programmes to the benefit of a greater number of students. 

The Sovereign Art Foundation Global Students Prize will see 18 artworks by students from Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, London, Singapore, Malta and Gozo, Portugal and Cyprus, united in an online exhibition. These finalists were previously named winners in their respective regions during 2024/5, being selected either by a local judging panel or cinching the popular vote from members of the public. 

From this Global presentation one Global Judges’ Prize will be awarded to the student selected by a jury comprised of noted professionals, including: Arpita Akhanda, artist and winner of the Grand Prize for The 2025 Sovereign Art Foundation Asian Prize, Howard Bilton, Founder and Chairman of SAF; Heidi Erdmann Rasch, curator and art historian, Caroline Greyling, Museum Director of Norval Foundation and Tiffany Pinkstone, Executive director of SAF. The public will also be invited to vote for their favourite work, with the most popular piece to receive the title of Global Public Vote Prize Winner. Votes can be cast online until 12:00hrs GMT, 30 April 2025. 

This global competition will enable cultural exchange between nations, showcasing artworks by the most talented and promising students from across the world. The online exhibition runs until 1 May, when the winners will be announced, also online.