Arts Award celebrates creativity and leadership! Over 600 schools and colleges offer this new qualification which recognises young people's achievement as artists and arts leaders. 170 of these have already supported students to gain Arts Awards, and we congratulate them in the Times Educational Supplement on Friday 4 July (PDF file, 37kb).

Arts Award features in many Shine projects, including Arts Award Week at Childwall School, Liverpool, young arts leaders running workshops at Northampton's Creative Exchange, gifted and talented dancers at Clacton County High School, and Halewood College working with 60 primary school children. In the North West, photographer Nigel Hillier was commissioned to celebrate Shine Week by capturing Arts Award in action - pictures below. More info at www.artsaward.org.uk.