Could you design a mural for White City Campus?

The 2026 Grantham Climate Art Prize has been launched, inviting young people aged 11 – 25 to design a mural drawing attention to the need for more sustainable living in the wake of the climate crisis.

Students at Imperial and surrounding schools, colleges and universities have the opportunity to submit a design for the mural by considering the question: What does a thriving, vibrant city full of nature and innovation look and feel like?

The winning design will be transformed into a 20-metre long mural at White City Campus on a hoarding close to Scale Space in early summer by mural artist Jeru Nomi.  It will be the 14^th mural across Great Britain in the Grantham Institute’s art prize series, which highlights the need for more action to reduce the worst effects of climate change and captures young people’s hopes for a more sustainable future.     

The winner will receive £250 and two runners up will receive £150 each. Runner up designs and highly commended entries will be displayed to the side of it in early summer.

This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to show the world their vision of a more sustainable city.

Entrants should check out the Grantham Climate Art Prize webpage where there’s a list of innovative eco-solutions for inspiration on these topics:

• building, heating and lighting our homes
• transport
• food and drink
• nature
• shopping
• waste disposal.

Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Innovation at Undaunted, who launched the art prize back in 2018 and is on this year’s judging panel, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to show the world their vision of a more sustainable city. We look forward to seeing active imaginations at work, with a mix between entries that capture the fantastic innovative tech and nature-based solutions that already exist, and also some of their wilder ideas!”

Artist Jeru Nomi said: “I like to think of murals as a glimpse into a new world. Your world is a landscape of possibilities, but sometimes questions you ask yourself can help develop these ideas like ‘What story do I want to tell?’ ‘How would that look in my world?’ ‘What characters are there?’” 

Ian Whitaker, Associate Producer, of the Grantham Climate Art Prize said: “When designing a mural the key is to do some research – you can read our useful Information Pack, then think big and use your imagination! Create your designs in landscape – with the potential to be developed into a panoramic scene.”

The Grantham Climate Art Prize team will be running a series of workshops for young people between January and March – where they will learn more about sustainable cities from a climate scientist and how to create striking mural design from an artist.

Further details will be announced on the Grantham Climate Art Prize webpage and on the Grantham Institute’s social media accounts marked #granthamclimateartprize. If you’re a school, youth group or community centre interested in hosting a workshop please contact: granthamartprize@imperial.ac.uk.

It is not essential to attend a workshop to enter – young people can use the information on the Grantham Climate Art Prize webpage and the Information Pack.

The Grantham Climate Art Prize 2026 is part of a wider public arts strategy being piloted at White City Campus that will also include a community-designed mural to be revealed at Stadium House on Wood Lane in spring 2026.

Previous art prize themes have included British Biodiversity Loss (2021) and A Greener, Cleaner, Cooler World (2023), inspired by the Grantham Institute’s 9 things you can do about climate change, and From Grey to Green: Design the Future 2025.

There have been 13 Grantham Climate Art Prize murals across Great Britain – from Brighton to Glasgow – and exhibitions of winning and runner-up designs, including at the UN Climate Change Conferences COP26 and COP30, in the Natural History Museum Real World Science Network museums and on billboards across London’s transport hubs. An exhibition of the 2023 art prize is on display under the shadow of Battersea Power station and an exhibition of the 2021 art prize is on show at Imperial’s South Kensington campus on Sherfield Walkway.

As to why the Grantham Institute run the award-winning competition, Martin Siegert, Visiting Professor at the Grantham Institute, says: “Art has the potential to inspire minds and touch emotions in a way that science alone often finds challenging".

Meanwhile, a previous participant in the Grantham Climate Art Prize workshops Mahamood Mubarak, then a PhD student, summed it up: “When you talk to young people about climate change, it is a challenge to make it hopeful and not too frightening… but there is a therapeutic element to creating art to express and share their hopes… Through this project I’ve learned the value of art and how it complements science – topics I spent months studying can be captured in a visually striking way that speaks to all.”

The deadline for entries is 13 April 2026. You can enter here by completing a form and uploading a clear photograph of your landscape design as a JPEG, PNG or GIF. Designs can be drawn or painted with a range of material including collage, photo montage or computer design, but not with AI.