Celebrating Excellence in Design: The Shoebox Theatre 2025 Awards

#ShoeboxTheatre2025 has been even more epic than last year! We have been blown away by the range and standard of entries. This year, we received a record number of international submissions from schools across the globe — from the UK and Europe to Asia and beyond. The creativity and craftsmanship demonstrated by young people everywhere has been truly inspiring.

We want to congratulate all of the young people and teachers who entered. It was very difficult to judge this year due to the incredibly high standard of work.

Once again, we loved the fact that most of the entries were based on novels, books, films and even computer games this year. The young people were clearly given autonomy to be creative and this really shines through in the amazing work created.

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Outstanding Model Box, who will receive:

• 1st place – £50 crafting voucher & certificate

• 2nd place – £30 crafting voucher & certificate

• 3rd place – £20 crafting voucher & certificate

We are also announcing some very special commendations, who will all receive certificates.

Our Judges

We are thrilled that set and costume designers Grace Venning and Sam Beal have judged this year’s competition.

Grace Venning works with We Teach Drama and is a performance designer based in London. She graduated from the Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2017 with a first class BA (Hons) in Design for Performance. She has since worked as a design assistant with the National Theatre and has designed for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Southwark Playhouse and The Almeida.

Sam Beal is Head of Creative Engagement at Norwich Theatre. He is a multidisciplinary designer and has produced designs for touring plays, immersive performance and intimate live art installations. He is influenced by pop culture, fashion, history and architecture. Sam originally created our Shoebox Theatre project and CPD in 2021.

Winner of Outstanding Model Box 2025 – First Place

• Rhys Weirman, aged 12

• St. Michael’s School, Llanelli

• Back to the Future The Musical

A huge congratulations to Rhys, who created this model box!

Here's what he wrote about his design:

I have chosen to make a shoebox theatre for Back To The Future the Musical because I really enjoyed the Film and The Musical, I really like all things that involve time travel like Doctor Who I have found the shapes in everyday items and recycled them. It is made from cardboard, old watches, acrylic paint, old can holders, old tea lights, four coffee cup coffee holders, aluminium bottle top, black out roller blind, a broken part from a part from a plastic geometry set, old towel, espresso pod and light bulb.

First, I started by making the outside by cutting up an old shoebox into a stage shape then I painted it dark blue because it's meant to be dark outside for most of the story is set in the night. The floor is made of black out roller blind. The clock tower is made from cut up cardboard box, part of a plastic geometry set, the edges of a and coffee cup holder which I painted and glued together and then stuck on an old watch face Doc Brown Laboratory It's made from a cut out cardboard box I painted it to look like old and dirty wallpaper.

Here's Grace Venning's feedback on the winning entry:

“Really creative! I love the use of recycled materials which reflect Doc Brown's resourcefulness and genius through chaos, and the theme of time travel via a jumble of objects which could be from different eras. This design considers multiple scenes and locations, and their creative process is explained beautifully in their written statement. I wish I could see this production!”

Second Place

• Moon (Meng Zhu) and Cindy (Yuxin Li) – Year 8 (12/13 years)

• BIS Ho Chi Minh

• The Tea House by Lao She

Here’s what they wrote about their design:

'The Tea House' is a famous Chinese play, written in 1957. It is set in an old and small teahouse in Beijing. The play helps to show Chinese culture and history. We wanted to show a traditional Chinese Tea House in our design.

Here's Grace Venning's feedback:

“Brilliant consideration of staging with the thrust stage which gives actors space to move around and great sightlines for the audience. Absolutely exceptional model making skills; I especially like the lampshades and I'm impressed by the scale of each piece of furniture in relation to the others."

Third Place

• Osheni Jayakodi-Arachchige, age 12

• St. Michael’s School, Llanelli

• Disney’s The Little Mermaid

Here’s what they wrote about their design:

I have created a scene from Disney's The Little Mermaid JR. The scene I have created is Triton's Kingdom. I have used a variety of materials such as paint, cardboard, paper, pebbles and even some leftover crystals from a craft kit. The selection of materials I have used have created different textures. The crystals make the main texture of the underwater palace, as it gives a shimmering look and is colourful like the coral reefs surrounding it. I have also hung some fish, made from cardboard, to expand the area of underwater life, which also gives my piece more depth and realism. I have included a starfish, sea rocks and sea plants. All of my pieces came together to create the underwater scene.

Here's Grace Venning's feedback:

“Really beautiful model making, mixing 3D with the painted backdrop, and an excellent use of colour to create the vibrant under-the-sea world of the story. I love the fish hanging down!”

✨ Stay tuned! A second blog post will be released on Sunday 19th October, where we will spotlight several model boxes that received special commendations. You won’t want to miss these incredible designs!

If you would like to run Shoebox Theatre this academic year with your students, all of the resources are available to download here: https://www.weteachdrama.com/shoebox

The next Competition will open in March 2026 and will close in September.

Sign up to our newsletter to find out first when we will be running CPD on Shoebox Theatre, set design and model-making: https://www.weteachdrama.com/get-the-password