United Kingdom Air Day – Poster Competition

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In conjunction with its 110th anniversary exhibition to be held at the Royal Air Force Museum, the Air League is running a national competition to design a poster to advertise a modern ‘United Kingdom Air Day’.

Your poster, which will be displayed within the 110th exhibition must:

  • Advertise an Air Day that encourages ‘Airmindedness’
  • Be modern, engaging and relevant
  • Include the Air league logo
  • Include a venue and date (can be individual to you)

The winning poster will be professionally printed and displayed within the Air League’s 110th exhibition at the RAF Museum – Hendon. Several runner-up posters will also be displayed.

The successful designer of the winning poster will also be invited to the Youth in Aviation Parliamentary Reception at the House of Lords in November to receive their prize.

How to enter?

Please submit your entry to Heritage Director bridget.donaldson@wordpress-811954-2786157.cloudwaysapps.com by the 2nd August 2019 with your:

  • Full name
  • Age
  • Phone number
  • E-mail
  • Full Address
  • digital copy of your entry

What was Empire Air Day?

Founded in 1909, the Air League of the British Empire aimed ‘to disseminate knowledge and spread information showing the vital importance to the British Empire of aerial supremacy, upon which its commerce, communications, defence and its very existence must largely depend’. To do so, the League embarked on a resolute programme of public education and political lobbying. It also made extensive use of public ritual. Empire Air Day, which the League held annually from 1934 to 1939, was one of its key ventures in this area.

The Air League first proposed Empire Air Day in October 1933, suggesting that the display could ‘get the public inside aviation’ and provide an ‘insight into the everyday life of the Royal Air Force’.

Programmes varied, though many of the aerodromes featured events such as: dive bombing; aerobatics; formation flying; blind flying; artillery observation; defence tactics; air combats between bombers and fighters; attacks on towed targets and machine-gun attacks on ground targets. Empire Air Day was quickly described as ‘the greatest aerial entertainment ever staged’ and ‘a national institution among all classes and all ages’. Following the first Empire Air Day in 1934, the Daily Mail declared that ‘all Britain must be air-minded . . . the first Empire Air Day marks a new epoch in the development of British flying’.

Credit to Rowan Thompson, He is currently working on a thesis entitled: ‘The Peculiarities of British Militarism: The Air and Navy Leagues in Interwar Britain’.

What are the rules?

The competition is open to anyone of any age.

We welcome entries from youth groups and other organisations in addition to schools. If you are a parent, you are also welcome to enter your child directly. Please ensure you include the full name of the person entering and not the parent.

  • Entrants can be teams or individuals
    • any prize awarded will be split across the team
  • Entries must be 2D, hand-drawn or digitally created and submitted on one side of A4
  • Work must be original and created by the entrant(s) – please do not use any templates
    • Please note, the data submitted will be used for the administration of the competition. First names, ages and organisations of the entrant may also be shared on our website and social media pages – if you do not want this data to be shared online you should make this explicitly clear within your email, and we will only the poster

How will entries be judged?

Entries will be shortlisted by members of the Air League Leading Edge Panel. The Board of Trustees in conjunction with the Chief Executive will select a winning entry.

Closing date for 2019 entries: Friday 2 August 2019 at 6pm.

We cannot accept entries received after the closing date so please ensure they are submitted in good time.

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