Dec1Written by:Editor
01/12/2008 
Established in 1962, the Koestler Awards work to encourage the artistic talents of people in hospitals and secure settings. Attracting a record 5,131 submissions, this year’s entries included sculpture, jewellery, poetry and needlework.
St Andrew’s has been actively involved in the Koestler Awards for many years and 2008 was no exception with individuals from the charity’s Men’s and Women’s Services developing a number of pieces.
Alongside mosaic and written work, a CD collection of musical performances and compositions was produced. Entitled ‘Inside Out’, the CD consists of 13 tracks, many of which are original songs.
“Involvement in the Koestler Awards provides many positive experiences”, said David Phillips, Technical Instructor at St Andrew’s. “The Inside Out CD project was great as it enabled our residents to develop their social and process skills including concentration, sequencing and organisation”.
Once again, this year’s work was highly praised with many individuals receiving a ‘Highly Commended’ certificate. Celebrating their successes, service users were also invited to a red carpet ceremony attended by Arianne Banks, niece of founder Arthur Koestler, who congratulated individuals on their talents and distributed awards and prizes.