The winning and highly commended entries for this year’s Nancy Rothwell Award have been announced, including specimen drawings of an African elephant, a Javan rhinoceros, and blue poison dart frog.

The Nancy Rothwell Award celebrates artwork that captures the details of anatomy, and this year more than 700 pieces were submitted by young artists from across the globe.

Submitted entries span three age categories (7-11, 12-14 and 15-18), and were judged by a panel of biologists and illustrators.

The winner of the 7-11 category is Anoushka Kumar, aged 10, from Woking, UK, for her drawing of an African elephant using coloured pencils and marker pens.

Find out more about the judge's comments on the piece and Anoushka's thoughts on receiving the awards in the below video.

The winner of the 12-14 category is Amelia Hayman, aged 14, from Gloucester, UK, for her drawing of a Javan rhinoceros using acrylic paint and pencil.

Find out more about the judge's comments on the piece and Amelia's thoughts on receiving the awards in the below video.

The winner of the 15-18 category is Alice White, aged 17, from Eastbourne, UK, for her drawing of a blue poison dart frog using colour pencils and water colour.

Find out more about the judge's comments on the piece and Alice's thoughts on receiving the awards in the below video.

The winners from each category will receive drawing material, a certificate, £25 for themselves, and £100 for their school.

All the winners and highly commended entrants will also each be awarded a copy of The Field Guide to Drawing & Sketching Animals by competition judge, Tim Pond.

This year, the Society worked Whitworth Art Gallery to include an additional award category, The Manchester Medal, celebrating the work of local artists in the Manchester area.

Manal Arzoo, age 15, wins this year’s Manchester Medal for her drawing of the true jellyfish using acrylic paint.

Manal said of receiving the award: “I was really surprised when I found out I had won the Manchester Medal Award.

“The reason I chose a jellyfish was because of the immense detail they have, plus I thought it would be a unique choice as not many people choose to draw them due to them being so complex.”

Denise Bowler, a judge for The Manchester Medal category, described Manal’s piece as “a very strong submission which explained function and form of a challenging subject.

"We unanimously agreed that the drawing was the winner of the Manchester Medal."

This year’s full shortlist of specimen drawings will be displayed at the Whitworth Art Gallery between October 2021 and January 2022.

This year’s competition was judged by Andrew Crook MBE, Lucy Eckersley, Kate Oliver and Dr Grace Sim, all from the Royal Veterinary College, Matt Webb and Tom Ireland, Royal Society of Biology, Tim Pond, a freelance illustrator, Claude Barbé-Brown, inspire!, and Professor Susan Standring MBE, King's College London.

The Manchester Medal category was judged by Luke Adamson, a freelance artist, Denise Bowler, The Whitworth Art Gallery, and Barinur Rashid, Manchester Museum.

The Nancy Rothwell Award is named after the first President of the Society, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell DBE CBiol Hon FRSB, who is a strong advocate for bringing art and science together.