From first ideas to 180m²of LED: mentoring the next generation OF DIGITAL ARTISTS for the Skyframe Awards

This summer, our founder Ben Sheppee joined The Story Engineers for the second edition of the Skyframe Awards, mentoring five emerging digital artists as they developed original work for one of London’s most unusual digital canvases.

The programme gives emerging artists the opportunity to develop ambitious new work with industry mentors before taking it onto Skyframe: a 180m² suspended LED canvas at One Fen Court in the City of London.

From mentorship to the Skyframe canvas

Working to this year’s theme, Depth and Light: Vanishing and Appearing, the five finalists spent the summer developing their ideas before testing rough cuts directly on the Skyframe canvas.

Ben worked with the artists throughout that process, helping them think about how their work could respond to the scale, format and physical setting of the screen.

The five finalists were:

Alex Hughes — Tunnel Lights Annie Wang — Head in the Clouds Isobel Yit Ling May — Lonely Light Show Mem Barlow — A Moment to Breathe Peige Yu — Travel Stories

The 2026 Skyframe Awards

Their finished works premiered at Skyframe on 3 September, when Ben also joined the judging panel alongside Carlos Cabrera of Scott and Irwin and Frances Darwin of Journey.

Annie Wang was named the 2026 Skyframe Awards winner for Head in the Clouds, with Isobel Yit Ling May named runner-up for Lonely Light Show.

For us, the project was a chance to share some of what we’ve learned over the years, while giving emerging artists room to experiment and find what’s distinctly theirs.

The Skyframe Awards are created by The Story Engineers to give the next generation of digital artists access to expert mentorship, public display and pathways into the creative industries.