Creativity to shine in Moreton Bay Region Youth Art Awards

Published 11:34am 14 July 2021

STORY: BREEANA ROBERTS

A swag of prizes and trophies are on offer for budding young artists in the Moreton Bay Region Youth Art Awards.

Entries are open for the 2021 awards, which also give artists who live or go to school in the region the chance to win money for their school.

Moreton Bay Region Mayor Peter Flannery says he was amazed at the level of talent on display at last year’s awards exhibition.

“From Bribie Island to Samford, we had over 200 children enter works, and as always, their artwork was colourful, thought-provoking, expressive and creative,” he says of last year’s show.

Overcoming challenges

Artists can enter all kinds of works, ranging from paintings to drawings and sculptures.

Last year’s winner in the 3D category for students in Prep-Year 3, Jasper Rogers, spent days creating Under the Sea, a colourful, interactive sculpture made up of nine sea creatures including fish, a shark, a seahorse, a turtle, and a starfish.

Jasper says he discovered many challenges while making his piece, ranging from getting the size and shape of the creatures just right to figuring out the best height to display each piece to convey a story.

“The shark and the seahorse were the hardest because they are really heavy,” he says.

“I had to draw about 15 seahorses to get the correct size and shape.”

Last year was Jasper’s first year working with three-dimensional art, and while he encountered challenges in the process, his finished piece included each sea creature being able to rotate on its stick, allowing Under the Sea to change to create different stories.

See some of last year's winners in our gallery below

A great outlet

Mayor Flannery says art is a great outlet for the mind and the soul and the awards give young people in the region a chance to express themselves.

The collaborative section is open to schools in the Moreton Bay Region. A group of three or more students can win prizes of a $1000 scholarship to be spent on art workshops for the winning school.

Individual entrants can win prize money of $200.

Entries close on September 1.