Since 2014 Brighton Fringe has held a competition for local school children to design the front cover of the Family Guide, responding to the theme of the festival. This year, 11 year old Roma Gerstmeyer scooped first place with her brightly coloured illustration, which was due to be featured on the front of the 2020 edition of the guide.
Sadly, due to the postponement of Brighton Fringe 2020, the guide will not be distributed, however we wanted to celebrate Roma’s great work alongside all of the other entries we received this year.
Embracing this year’s Brighton Fringe tagline of ‘Dive In’, Roma’s illustration is full of vibrant colours, depicting a man diving in to a colourful pool against a sunlit rainbow sky. Speaking about her design, Roma said: “I really love Brighton Fringe. I hadn’t heard about this competition before my year group leader told everyone. When the artwork was in the making it looked interesting, let’s just say I thought it would be a huge surprise if I won. When I received the message that I had won, I was exhilarated. I couldn’t believe it! I had actually won!”
The judging panel loved the lively illustration and felt that Roma captured the essence of Brighton Fringe in her design. The panel comprised of Louise Arnell from The Pebble Trust, Ian Murray, who designed the front cover for the Brighton Fringe 2020 brochure, and the Brighton Fringe team.
In addition to being featured on the front cover of the Family Guide, Roma also won £200 worth of tickets for Brighton Fringe and a Brighton Fringe Gold Friends Membership.
Roma triumphed over 77 other budding designers to win first place, however she was closely followed by Alicia Aitken, aged 8, from Our Lady of Lourdes School and Bertie Lawson, aged 6, from St Luke’s Primary School. The judges also gave honourable mentions to Isaac McKee from Brunswick School and Tayah Bentman, aged 5, from Mile Oak School.
You can view all of the entries submitted to the Family Guide Cover Competition below.
If you’re interested in submitting an entry for our Family Guide Cover Competition in the future, do get in touch by emailing marketing@brightonfringe.org. We’ll send you all the information as soon as we have it!