"Who are you?"

This is the question being posed to the young designers, artists and photographers of tomorrow in a national creative competition being held by the Arts University College at Bournemouth, in partnership with JCDecaux, the leading outdoor media owner.
Young artists between 16-18 years old are being asked to submit their creative work, with the 10 winning entries having their artwork posted up on 48-sheet billboards across the UK in April.
The Arts University College, a specialist arts university since 1875, has a great track record of progressing students to the creative industries from all of their 4 schools – Art, Design, Media and Performance. In last year’s figures from DLHE (Destination of Leavers in Higher Education) the AUCB achieved some of the strongest employability figures in all the specialist arts HE Universities and Colleges with 97.5% of 2010 graduates employed or undertaking further study.
However, this achievement relies on getting the best students to apply for places. The AUCB has created this project to raise the profile of the University amongst the artists, designers and photographers of tomorrow. This is increasingly important in the light of the changes in HE funding and the competition to secure the best students.
The competition challenges young creatives throughout the UK, entering individually or as groups, to demonstrate their talent in answering the question ‘Who are you?’ A panel of judges from the AUCB, JCDecaux and the creative industries will select a shortlist with the final ten winning designs chosen by the public on Facebook in early March. Those winners will then be printed and supersized on 50 billboards around the country.
Simon Pride, Head of Marketing and Communications at the AUCB said, "We believe that the project demonstrates our commitment to giving young designers and artists the very biggest platform for their future development we can. And you can't get much bigger than a 48 sheet billboard. We wanted to engage the attention of 16/18 year olds considering their next step in life – an audience that is increasingly hard to reach with traditional media channels and by creating this competition, not only are we giving them a massive platform in which to express themselves, but we’re also highlighting the unique creative talent that is fostering within our youth.”
The project is being run in partnership with JCDecaux, the leading Outdoor advertising company in the UK. David McEvoy, Marketing Director of JCDecaux commented, "We are delighted to support the work of young artists and designers with this project and look forward to seeing the winning creative ideas showcased on our network of billboards.”
This competition is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK and will give young people the chance to really express themselves and their talent in our constantly changing society. For further details, including the chance to enter the competition, please visit www.facebook.com/theAUCB.