Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

{{Short description|British art competition}}

{{Italic title|string=Sunday Times}}

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

It was launched in 1988 as the Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander / Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, through sponsorship by Kaupthing Bank and The Sunday Times. Kaupthing ceased to sponsor the prize after the bank was taken over.[http://sdbmarketing.co.uk/times_watercolour_rates.htm "RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2010"] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120715232252/http://sdbmarketing.co.uk/times_watercolour_rates.htm |date=2012-07-15 }}, Sdbmarketing.co.uk, Retrieved 9 January 2012 As of 2012, it is co-sponsored by the Royal Watercolour Society and so called the RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition.[http://www.banksidegallery.com/viewexhibition.aspx?exhibitionid=8 "Royal Watercolour Society / Sunday Times Watercolour Competition"], Banksidegallery.com. Retrieved 9 January 2012

The first prize winner was Tom Coates. Subsequent winners have included Trevor Stubley (1990),[http://www.trevorstubleygallery.co.uk/profile.htm "Awards and Prizes"], Trevorstubleygallery.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2012 Carl Randall (1998, the youngest ever 1st prize winner),Carl Randall - The 1998 Singer & Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. "Fresh Fields, New Faces", The Sunday Times, London, 6 September 1998, page 8 Stuart Pearson Wright (1999; third prize), Leslie Worth, 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, and a £25,000 prize fund,[http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/whats-on.php?event=27081 "RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition"], Allinlondon.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2012 that year's winner being Jennifer McRae.[http://www.artshub.co.uk/uk/news-article/news/museums-and-libraries/rws-sunday-times-watercolour-competition-winner-announced-173905 "RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition winner announced"], Artshub.co.uk, 28 August 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2012

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 in London.{{Cite web |last=Wise |first=Louis |date=2014-08-24 |title=Watercolour competition: Southern comforts |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/watercolour-competition-southern-comforts-v53wlbbmpkw |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Wise |first=Louis |date=2016-08-27 |title=Watercolour Competition winners look to the east |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/art/article/winners-look-to-the-east-qzhwz87d8 |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=The Times |language=en}}