Cornish homeless charity St Petroc’s Society is launching its campaign to end street homelessness in Cornwall with an exhibition and art competition.

The competition is open to pupils from primary, secondary and special schools across Cornwall and prizes will be awarded at the exhibition opening at Truro Cathedral on October 11.

One of the aims of the campaign is to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness in Cornwall and seek support and solutions. St Petroc’s Society has a lot of support for its work from schools and from individual children and young people and the competition provides another opportunity for them to get involved and find out more about the issue.

Prize-winning entries will be framed and included in the exhibition, which will go on to tour other venues in the county during 2017 and 2018.

The judges for the competition include James Green, director of Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange, as well as representatives of St Petroc’s Society and the wider campaign team.

There are prizes of cash and vouchers for individual prize-winners and for the schools supporting the winning entry. The competition closes on September 26.

St Petroc's Society works with single homeless people in Cornwall to provide accommodation, support, advice, training and resettlement.

The charity has pointed out that in the most recent national Rough Sleeping Count, Cornwall had the third highest number of people sleeping rough, with only London and Brighton having more.