Switch it off! Thetford Academy Student takes First Place in Utility Aid’s Energy Saving Art Competition

Thetford Academy is excited to announce that on Wednesday 29th March one of their Year 11 students, Demi Sadler won first place in Utility Aid’s Net Zero Art Competition. 

Utility Aid invited students from all across the Inspiration Trust to submit a poster illustrating the importance of being a more eco-friendly school and looking after our planet. The standard of entries was extremely high and selecting just three lucky winners was not an easy task for Utility Aid’s Commercial Director, William Campbell. 

After much deliberation, Demi’s was chosen for her unique and creative approach to the competition, which saw her bring two characters, Blight and Lux to life. As a result, Demi was awarded a whopping £100 gift voucher which she is excited to make use of. Demi was even more delighted when Thetford Academy said they plan to use them as their ‘energy mascots’ for many years to come, which Demi is rightly very proud of. 

With energy saving at the top of Inspiration Trust’s agenda, a number of initiatives have been set up across the MAT’s range of schools to support in creating a better planet, including the introduction of a number of Energy Champions. At Thetford Academy, Energy Champion, Emily Field was the person in charge of short-listing the huge number of entries before  handing over the task of choosing the design the school will enter into Utility Aid’s competition to the school’s Eco-club. Demi’s creative design was chosen as they loved the idea of bringing completely new characters to life to communicate the need to be more energy efficient… so much so, the Thetford students have even turned them into an animation!

Demi wasn’t part of the Eco-club originally, but feels strongly about environmental issues, and relished the opportunity to get creative when she saw the task on her enrichment homework options.  Energy champion, Emily Fields was so impressed with Demi’s poster and her passion for the topic, that she has invited her to become a leader at the school’s Eco-club, something which Demi looks forward to getting involved in and plans to continue when she moves into Thomas Paine Sixth Form at the academy.

 Ruaire Glackin, Head of Net Zero at Utility Aid, said: 

“[I am] overjoyed to see how much the competition had inspired so many young people to think about the energy we use and the impact we can have on our environment.” 

Bernadette Fowler, School Project Manager at Utility Aid, had the pleasure of presenting the prizes and said how impressed she was with the artwork created: 

“[I am] even more impressed with the tangible passion and determination of the students I met to make a real difference…they are our future after all, and it certainly is in good hands.

Thank you to ALL students who entered the competition and to all those staff and students who run and attend their Eco-clubs each week! Ruaire and our Net Zero team plan to run more competitions in collaboration with the Energy Champions and students across the Trust.”