The ''Sunday Times'' Watercolour Competition is a nationwide competition promoting the art of painting in water-based media in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was launched in 1988 as the Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander / ''Sunday Times'' Watercolour Competition, through sponsorship by

Kaupthing Bank Kaupthing Bank (, ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic-based operations were ...

and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. Kaupthing ceased to sponsor the prize after the bank was taken over. As of 2012, it is co-sponsored by the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

and so called the RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. The first prize winner was Tom Coates. Subsequent winners have included Trevor Stubley (1990),

Carl Randall Carl Randall (born 1975) is a British figurative painter, whose work is based on images of modern Japan and London. Education Randall is a graduate of The Slade School of Fine Art London (BA Fine Art), the Royal Drawing School London (The Dr ...

(1998, the youngest ever 1st prize winner),

Stuart Pearson Wright Stuart Pearson Wright (born 1975) is an English artist, known principally for his portraits, Wright also works in sculpture, film and printmaking. He is first prize winner of the 2001 BP Portrait Award. Early life and education Stuart Pearson Wri ...

(1999; third prize),

Leslie Worth Leslie Worth OBE (1923–2009) was an English watercolourist. Life and career Worth attended Bideford Art School and the Royal College of Art and later became an art teacher at the Epsom School of Art (now the University for the Creative Arts). ...

, and Carol Robertson. The 2007 winner was Julia Farrer. In 2008, 2,000 works were submitted, with 100 exhibited at the Royal Watercolour Society's

Bankside Gallery Bankside Gallery is a public art gallery in Bankside, London, England. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1980, Bankside is an educational charity, situated on the Thames Path just along from Tate Modern. The gallery is home to the Royal Watercol ...

, and a £25,000 prize fund, that year's winner being Jennifer McRae. Kathryn Maple has won the competition on two occasions: once in 2014 and once in 2016. Her winning painting in 2014 was ''Fat Boy's Diner'', which depicts a cafe near

Trinity Buoy Wharf Trinity Buoy Wharf is the site of a lighthouse, by the confluence of the River Thames and Bow Creek on the Leamouth Peninsula, Poplar. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The lighthouse no longer functions, but is the home of ...

in London. She used the £10,000 prize money to travel to India. The trip inspired her winning 2016 entry, ''Sandy Shoes''. What Maple describes as its "part real, part imagined" scene is the product of a visit to the island of

Vypin Vypin (, Cochin Portuguese: Isla Santa) is one of the group of islands that form part of the city of Kochi, in the Indian state of Kerala. Vypin forms a barrier island which lies between the Arabian Sea in the west and the Cochin backwaters ...

References

Visual arts competitions Competitions in the United Kingdom 1988 establishments in the United Kingdom {{painting-stub