The SCPN Art and Design Prize

Despite the increasing body of evidence for cancer risk reduction, and the fact that incidence in Scotland is rising, public awareness of the links between lifestyle and cancer risk is relatively low. So creative messaging offers a nice opportunity to provide important information in a novel way.

Supporting the most vulnerable communities to make lifestyle changes and empowering health professionals to facilitate positive health behaviours are key aspects of the SCPN’s mission. There is much work to be done and strong leadership is needed in Scotland to turn around the projected increase in cancer incidence.

For this reason, The SCPN looked to Scotland’s young artists and designers to think about new ways to communicate the links between lifestyle and cancer risk, encourage cancer screening uptake and support others to make positive health choices. From 2011 we have run an annual £250 SCPN Art and Design prize which sought entries in any medium, and involved behaviours which are identified as impacting on our risk of developing cancer.

The winners of this annual prize have been varied including our most recent winner Kinga Elliot producing a painting titled ‘Cartwheel’ which encapsulated the joy physical activity can bring, our 2015 winner Stuart Clark designing a UV sensitive paracord bracelet that was aimed at 12-18 years olds to highlight UV exposure and our 2014 winner Alicia Storie who proposed a design for an innovative community supermarket dedicated to encouraging health living.

All our SCPN Art and Design prize winners can be found on our website and we wish them all the luck in the future.