Young Salford artist announced as winner of Lowry's 2026 Copley Prize

Seven-year-old Mia Ise-oluwa Asiyanbi (six at the time of entering), from Salford in Greater Manchester, has been announced as the winner of Lowry's 2026 Copley Prize.

Joined by her family and class teacher, Mia visited Lowry on Tuesday 15 September to hang her award-winning artwork alongside the famous paintings by LS Lowry that inspired it.

Every year, primary school-aged children from across the UK are invited to submit artwork inspired by LS Lowry to Lowry's Copley Prize. Two termly winners are selected during the academic year, before one overall winner is chosen for the annual prize. Mia, who was six years old when she took part in Lowry's Copley Creative Outreach Programme, was selected as the overall winner

from more than 600 entries submitted by children nationwide.

Mia's artwork will remain on display in the Andrew Law Galleries at Lowry for the next 12 months.

Mia, whose artwork is titled A Man Going to Work said:

“I feel so happy that my work will be in a real art gallery!"

Mia’s work was chosen as this year’s overall winner by Alison and Noel Copley who are huge admirers of LS Lowry’s work and long-standing supporters of Lowry’s programmes for children and young people. They founded the art competition in 2013 as a way to encourage primary-aged children to develop their creativity and artistic ability.

The prize invites children to create modern-day interpretations of Lowry's work that reflect the communities and environments around them, just as LS Lowry did. Curator of the LS Lowry collection at Lowry, Claire Stewart says: “LS Lowry loved to observe people and places saying, ‘I just painted what I saw’. Inspired by Father Coming Home, Mia has brought her own personal style to the picture and reinterpreted it for us in her own way. I’m sure our visitors will really enjoy seeing her winning work.”

Any primary school-aged children (Key Stage 1 & 2) can submit their work now for the 2027 Copley Prize.   Find out more at https://www.thelowry.com/thecopleyprize

Since it began in 2013, the Copley Prize has received almost 6,000 entries. In 2018 Lowry additionally launched The Copley Children’s Creative Arts Outreach Programme that delivers free high-quality visual arts workshops to schools across Salford.  And in 2023, thanks to the continued generosity of Alison and Noel Copley, each year Lowry supports 10 primary schools in Salford through The Copley Creative Arts Outreach Programme. Through this programme, children explore the artwork of LS Lowry across multiple-art forms to help pupils and teachers build confidence, express themselves, and spark their creativity.

Alison Copley said:  "LS Lowry's work is evident as the inspiration behind Mia's superb artwork - a man going about his daily life, but with such character and detail that we see this ordinary person with a fresh perspective. The feeling of movement and liveliness against the stony street behind is so engaging, full of warmth and humour. Mia is a very talented artist and we hope she and the other wonderful entrants of this year's Copley Prize keep on making and creating art."

The Andrew Law Galleries at Lowry are open six days a week. (Tues-Fri, 11am-5pm and Sat-Sun, 10am-5pm). Admission is free, but donations are welcome.