Local young artist wins award in national competition

Talented local young artist, Emma
Rankin from George Watson’s College in Edinburgh has been commended for
her entry in a national art competition.

Emma entered the art and poetry competition, which was launched by
Animal Aid during its annual Veggie Month initiative in March. The
competition – open to young people right across the UK - was on the
theme of factory farming, following recent high profile consumer
campaigns by celebrity chefs, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie
Oliver.

Animal Aid received more than 1,500 entries from individuals and
schools and was delighted by the extraordinarily high standard. Emma’s
piece – which directly compared the life of a pig in a factory farm to
a life of freedom - was shortlisted in its age category (11-13) for its
imagination, technique and understanding of the issue.

Says Animal Aid’s Competition Organiser, Kelly Slade:
‘Young people feel passionately about the fair treatment of animals and
clearly recognise the inhumanity of factory farming. The artwork and
poetry we received was exciting, imaginative and bold, and revealed a
thoughtful and compassionate younger generation. I feel sure that such
talent and commitment will continue to be used to benefit animals,
people and the planet in the future.’

• For more information contact: Kelly Slade, 01732 364546 ext 227 (after hours, Kate Fowler-Reeves 07751 990082)
• In the UK alone, approximately 1,000 million animals are
slaughtered for food each year. This figure doesn’t include fish, who
are killed in such huge numbers that they are counted in tonnes. The
vast majority of farmed animals – and especially pigs, chickens, ducks,
turkeys, goats and fish - are fattened in factory farms. Increasingly,
dairy cows are also kept in intensive ‘zero grazing’ units.

Beyond Edinburgh