Young Artists Prize winners announced

by beth sorensen 05/12/2020

05/12/2020

Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 Young Artists Prize!

This year we celebrated the creativity of local young people with an environmentally-themed Young Artists Prize. Young people who live or study in Blacktown City and are aged 3 – 15 years were invited to enter work, with prizes up for grabs for all ages.

Artworks are displayed as part of the Blacktown City Art Prize exhibition from Saturday 28 November 2020 to Thursday 28 January 2021.

The theme for 2020 is Staying strong, as we work to recover from the rough year we have had so far. We asked young artists to make an artwork in response to one of these questions:

How can we recover our lost habitats after the destruction of the bushfires?
How can we strengthen our community and environment for the future?

2020 has been a year of challenges. In NSW, the bushfires burnt 5.4 million hectares of land and destroyed 25% of suitable koala habitat. This caused ash, debris, eroded soils and burnt matter to be washed into waterways, affecting water quality and causing fish kills.

Since the bushfires, COVID-19 has affected us all, often keeping us indoors. This helps us appreciate the importance of outdoor and natural spaces like local parks and bushland reserves. The pandemic has also sparked waste management issues, and in some cases, additional pollution, as dozens of gloves, masks and hand sanitiser bottles have been found in the ocean.

Faced with challenge after challenge, we need to become resilient and prepare for any future disruptions that may arise.