The Visual Arts festival has grown and matured over the years, and in 2024 attracted over 1400 entries from across Zimbabwe, at both primary and senior school level.

We have decided to announce our theme at the end of each year, prior to publishing the full curriculum, which is sent to schools in March/April. This is to ensure that senior school students, who are not bound by the need to follow the curriculum topics yet need to work within the constraints of the overall theme, may begin working towards their submissions as early in the year as possible.

Entries are submitted in early August, and our highly skilled and professional adjudication team get to work immediately. All artwork is submitted under nom de plumes so that adjudicators are blinded when marking the work, to both the name of the student and school. Each work of art is individually assessed and marked according to our carefully considered marking rubric.

We receive an incredibly high standard of work, as teachers carefully select their student’s most successful work for submission to NIAA. This is also testimony to the extraordinary array of talent nationwide.

A selection of the best work is showcased at our exciting annual prize-giving ceremony in October each year, where students are awarded our superb trophies and prizes in recognition of their achievements. This is accompanied by our beautifully curated exhibition of artwork, celebrating, and upholding visual arts standards and achievements across the country. All schools and students, and the public generally, are encouraged to visit and enjoy the exhibition over the week following prize-giving.