Queensland Students Impress Judges at Art Awards

Artistically talented students have impressed the judges at last night’s (6 September) Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory (IEU-QNT) Excellence in Art Design Awards.

The awards held at the Queensland Multicultural Centre in Brisbane attracted over 600 entries from students and teachers across the Queensland and Northern Territory independent education sector, with entrants submitting artwork with a theme of ‘Colours of Life’.

Student Sophia Beeching from St Paul’s School in Bald Hills was awarded the top honour of the Harriet Hunter Memorial Award, established in memory of a gifted student whose life was tragically taken in the 1999 South-East Queensland floods.

The Harriet Hunter Memorial Award winner is selected from all winning entries across Pre-school to Year 12 and was judged by Adrian Hunter.

Adrian said Sophia’s winning piece titled ‘Rainbow Splotch Monster’ was an exciting and well thought response to the theme.

“This artwork immediately grabs the eye – it is bursting with colour and energy yet it compositionally constrained,” Adrian said.

“The artist has developed this arrangement around the initial experiment – evoking a sense of joy for life, anticipation, improvement and showing an enthusiastic approach to being creative,” he said.

IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said the judges were wowed by the quality of submissions across all age groups in response to the theme.

“The judges commented on the high standard of entries and the varied and creative interpretations that entrants brought to this year’s theme,” Mr Burke said.

“Our union established the Awards to promote and encourage artistic students and celebrate their flair for creativity.

“Art is a very important area of learning in schools, and IEU-QNT is proud to support the artistic talent of students and staff in the Queensland non-government sector.

“We congratulate all recipients for their remarkable achievements.”

Awards of Excellence recipients for 2023 were:

Open: Taylor Reeves – St Thomas More College, Sunnybank

First Nations: Charlotte Hobbs – Victory College, Gympie

Years 11-12: Leila-Grace Shephard – St Monica’s College, Cairns

Years 9-10: Kate Magendanz – Mt St Michaels College, Ashgrove

Years 7-8: Scarlett Brosteanu– Loreto College, Coorparoo

Years 5-6: Eileen Kang – St Peter’s Catholic Primary School, Rochedale

Years 3-4: Maelee Cox – St. Peter’s Catholic Primary School, Rochedale

Prep-Year 2: Hans Bastian Holz – St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Corinda

Highly Commended Awards for 2023 were presented to:

Open:

Sarah Dally – St Columban’s College, Caboolture

Sharyn Prasad – Brisbane Independent School, Pullenvale

Christine Leadbetter – St Peter’s Catholic Primary, Rochedale

Pam Mekers – Fraser Coast Anglican College, Wondunna

First Nations:

Abigail Franks – Xavier Catholic College, Hervey Bay

Jada Lee Livermore – Mary Mackillop College, Nundah

Breanna-Jo Missi-Day – Carinity Education Southside, Sunnybank

Mangnu (Esther) Cing Ngaih – Groves Christian College, Kingston

Years 11-12:

Aurelia Marsh – Cannon Hill Anglican College, Cannon Hill

Lindy Ingle – St Monica’s College, Cairns

Gus Watson – Marist College Ashgrove

Abbey Greenwood – Mt St Michaels College, Ashgrove

Eugenie Costello – Mt St Michaels College, Ashgrove

Years 9-10:

Alina Zhou – Redeemer Lutheran College, Rochedale

Ting Jiang – St Peters Lutheran College, Indooroopilly

Eva Butler – St Peters Lutheran College, Indooroopilly

Bhavya-Ashutosh Vaitha – Canterbury College, Waterford

Alexandra Papadimitriou – Loreto College, Coorparoo

Years 7-8:

Leigh Kirchhubel – Redeemer Lutheran College, Rochedale

Rose-Celena Mojica – Somerville House, Brisbane

Ziyi Zhang – Ormiston College, Ormiston

Emma Carter – Loreto College, Coorparoo

Years 5-6:

Naomi Wishart – Westside Christian College, Goodna

Billy Santos-Scerri – Guardian Angels Catholic Primary School, Ashmore

Zoe Ross – Guardian Angels Catholic Primary School, Ashmore

Liam Jackson – Holy Cross Primary School, Cairns

Years 3-4:

Quinn Chopping – Holy Cross Primary School, Cairns

Cian Kirrane – Guardian Angels Catholic Primary School, Ashmore

Olivia Wilson – Westside Christian College, Goodna

Elsa Kelly – St Peter’s Primary School, Rochedale

Prep-Year 2:

Sophia Beeching – St Paul’s School, Bald Hills

Isabella Du – St Anthony’s Primary School, Alexandra Hills

Seth Morphy – Westside Christian College, Goodna

Miki Liang – Heights College, Rockhampton

Mackenzie Leijen – St Peter’s Primary School, Rochedale

Specific quotes and high-resolution images can be provided of each winner on request.

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