A student from Margate Primary School has won the prestigious Exhibition Hanger’s Award at the 2019 Young Archies Awards. 
Modelled on the famous Archibald Prize, the Young Archies showcases the artistic talent of students from Kindergarten to Year 12 in government schools, providing them with a great opportunity to experience participation in an impressive art exhibition.
Minister for the Arts, Elise Archer, presented certificates to the winners at the 2019 Young Archies Award ceremony.
“The Arts play such an important and highly valued role in our community, with opportunities such as these allowing our young people to use their creativity and imagination to communicate and express themselves,” Ms Archer said.
“Students are free to create a portrait of a person they know who has inspired them by using oil, acrylic, watercolour and/or mixed media and it’s wonderful to see such a rich and diverse array of artworks on display,” Ms Archer added.
Selected from hundreds of entries from students across the State, eight-year-old Grace Cowden from Margate Primary School won the coveted prize for her portrait titled, ‘The Grandma Olympics’.
Grace, who is in grade 2 at Margate Primary, said she used lots of different materials when creating her portrait.
“I used wool to make plaits for grandma’s shirt, necklace and earrings and I scrunched up little balls of paper for her hair,” Grace said, explaining the mixed media.
“I think my grandma is the world's best grandma.”
The Kingborough area was well represented at the Young Archies awards with Taroona High student Solana Bodley winning the Year 7-8 category overall for her portrait titled Puzzle Piece, Margate Primary Student Huw Bulgar winning the Year 1-2 category for his work, ‘Excited Ellis’ and Illawarra student Henry Knight winning the Kindergarten-Prep category with a portrait title ‘Josie’.
Taroona student Miranda Bugden, Illawarra students Sam Shaw and Jack Garozzo, Margate Primary student Isla Smith and Kingston Primary student William Hallock all received a Highly Commended certificate for their entries.
Ms Archer said she was impressed with the incredibly high standard of art on display from all age groups across the entire State.
“The originality and creativity and emotion depicted by our students in their portraits is something of which they should all be extremely proud,” Ms Archer concluded.

Pictured above, Minister for the Arts and local Member for Clark, the Hon Elise Archer MP, presents Grace Cowden from Margate Primary School with the Exhibition Hanger’s Award for her Young Archies portrait titled, ‘The Grandma Olympics’. (PS)