We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s second set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! In Class 2, Volcanic documents and depictions, we returned to the theme of art inspired by volcanoes which we began during the Virtual Summer School: this time we considered visual art and literature. We also examined the archives of a Pompeii banking family to see what we could learn about customs, culture and challenges of people in Pompeii. In this class’s competitions, pupils created some art of their own and delved deeper into our Pompeiian family’s records. Year 10 pupils on the course produced some really excellent work in response to this class’s competitions; you can see the top entries below!
Congratulations to the winners of Class 2 competitions:
- Kessia
- Marina
- Adchaya
- John
Each of you have won an Amazon voucher. This will be sent to the email address you provided in your competition cover sheet; please get in touch with us at inspire@sjc.ox.ac.uk if you haven’t received yours by the end of the week.
Competition 3: Volcanoes in art
Create a piece of visual art (a drawing, painting, model or sculpture) which conveys an emotional response to a volcano. You may consider: a dormant or active volcano, a landscape (scenery) or portrait (people) composition, and may use traditional or modern artforms, including digital. Use examples from The power of volcanoes in art and the supplemental material with the article to help inspire your work.
You should include a short explanation of your work of no more than 100 words.
1st place: Kessia, Ealing
My painting is an attempt to portray an unconventional interpretation of volcanoes. Volcanoes as a sign of hope. During calamitous and dejected times the intense, vivid radiance of a volcano can bring a sense of hope as it is ‘a light in the darkness’. Though volcanoes are destructive, they are also a motivation for poets and artists as well as those affected because it has instilled a drive within them to prevent or minimise the negative consequences of volcanoes. My painting aims to show this literally through the contrasting dark and sombre background with the bright illumination of the volcano.
2nd place: Marina, Ealing
Finalists:
Competition 4: Trade in Rome
Using the online tool at http://orbis.stanford.edu/, try to trace the route of an Alexandrian grain ship to the Bay of Naples. How long would it take? What might that mean to a trader in Puteoli?
Was the price of grain in this contract (1 measure, modius, equals 8.73 litres) high or low, given that 900 sesterces were the annual pay of a Roman legionary?
To judge by that, what could it mean to be a freed slave of the emperor?
Some hints to help with your calculations:
- Think about how much money this grain could have been worth.
- Think about how much food a Roman citizen might have needed in one year.
- Try looking up extra information which may inform your argument.
Your competition entry should be 300 words or less, and you may also want to include any calculations or screencaps from the ORBIS tool to illustrate your answer.
1st place: Adchaya, Ealing
2nd place: John, Ealing
Finalists:
- Nathan, Harrow
- Thomas, Ealing
Remember: the deadline for Class 3’s competitions is 5pm Wednesday, 18 November. With this class we begin looking at evolution in science and technology, and we are looking forward to seeing some more excellent work in response to this class’s set of competitions!