Cover Time!

Falling for Buxton Festival Fringe by art competition winner, Elizabeth Rose

What can brighten up these dark, grey, wet and windy winter days?  Thinking about the Fringe in July of course! This is the time of year when we run our Programme Cover competition. 

With a deadline of 8/1/24, Steph, our hard-working Marketing Officer, was worried that people would be too tired after Christmas to enter. But the arty folk of Buxton and around didn't let us down. 

We had a whopping 23 entries, with a diverse range of styles, ideas and designs. We were really delighted to see such a strong field and even more pleased to get several entries from younger artists, the youngest being nine years old.

The competitors gave the judges a very difficult job selecting just one winner. We knew it was going to be a long session, so we set ourselves up with lots of hot drinks in the cosy Old Hall lounge. 

Luckily Annie, the talented daughter of Steph, had made up proofs of all the entries using our cover format.  Soon all 23 were spread out on all available surfaces. This gave the judges a very real idea of what they would look like if selected.

It was an enjoyable if long process. Soon we had three piles: good but not quite right for the Fringe, very good and possibly for other publicity but not quite cover-worthy, and lastly, definite cover potential. We ended up with eight designs in this final pile.

Time to roll our sleeves up and get serious! Merits such as fun, eye-catching, wider use, background and colours were debated alongside the vital but elusive quality, did it say Buxton Fringe?

After a frank but friendly exchange of views we had our winning entry, which was revealed to be by Buxton artist Elizabeth Rose.

We were also pleased to have three strong runners up by Dave Carlisle, Emma Bouchier and Joanna Allen.

Having drunk all the tea, the judges happily left our Marketing Officer to sort out the tasks of drafting a press release, advising entrants of the results and working with our designer and artist on final tweaks to the design.

Fringe Vice Chair Jeanette Hamilton said: "I'm delighted we have chosen an image that portrays everything we want the Fringe to be - inclusive, diverse, fun and with appeal for people of all ages and backgrounds."

To see our catalogue of past covers click here.

To find out more about getting involved in the Fringe click here.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe