 The Chris Benefield Memorial Award at Printfest In May I was fortunate to take part in Printfest, a 2-day festival of printmaking held annually in Ulverston, Cumbria. It is, in my opinion, one of the best printmaking events in the country and showcases the work of 44 selected printmakers from across the country. Each year a number of awards are bestowed on individual printmakers for their work as a whole or for specific pieces. This year I was delighted that Hay Meadow was chosen for the Chris Benefield Memorial Award. Through inspiration from Chris, upstairs at the Tinners’ Rabbit Fine Art Gallery in Ulverston, local artists gathered to talk about their dreams, beliefs and philosophy; This is where Printfest was born, the dream of Judy Evans & Ronkey Bullard, to set up a festival for printmakers. Today Printfest is celebrating 22 festivals over 25 years and is the UK’s foremost artist-led printmaking festival, with a hard working committee that Chris was Chairman of until 2013. (Printfest website)  Being presented with the award by Janet Benefield. I was presented with a beautiful handprinted certificate and £200 prize money which I have used to buy a lovely wooden box of coloured pencils. When I was making Hay Meadow, the coloured botanical drawings that I did from plant specimens were the basis on which I created the collagraph plates and I aim to use my new set for further drawings of natural history. A big thank you to the team at Printfest and also to everyone that came to see me on my stand. I enjoyed lots of really inspiring conversation particularly about ecology and the fragility of our ecosystems and bird populations. I was also delighted that so many of my prints found new homes. 
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