This year’s Casey Creations has once again showcased the diverse talent of Casey’s young people with an array of colourful and imaginative art pieces.
For over 20 years, Casey has been encouraging students in grades five to year 12 to explore their artistic talent through this annual creative arts competition.
The program invites entries from young people who live, study or work in Casey to submit art pieces across the three categories of visual arts, photography, and young people with disability visual arts and photography.
This year 200 entries were received, with a community judging panel made up of local photographers and artists tasked with the difficult decision of selecting four award winners in each category.
Vinuthi and Chanithu Wijesekara A both received awards as part of this year’s competition for their work titled ‘The Path of Life’ in the junior photography category, and ‘Hope of Life’ in the intermediate photography category respectively.
Having taken part in the competition previously, both Vinuthi and Chanithu described Casey Creations as one of their favourite programs that happens every year.
“We are always collecting our best masterpieces to enter in this competition,” Vinuthi said.
Their father Chamal Wijesekara A said the program had been a fantastic opportunity for his kids to get involved with local youth activities.
“Active participation and having recognition from local community can provide a healthy boost to their self-confidence, self-esteem, and overall satisfaction. I think this program is one of many amazing starting points for young kids,” Chamal said.
Each winner along with their family, friends and teachers were invited to an awards ceremony at Bunjil Place on Thursday 24 November where their artwork was exhibited, and their achievements were celebrated.
Casey chair of administrators Noelene Duff said Casey was extremely proud to keep this program running for over 20 years and showcase the outstanding artistic talent of Casey’s young artists.
“Here at Casey, we are pleased to offer a variety of programs for our young people that allows them to discover a new skill or explore their talents in the creative fields,” she said.
“We congratulate our winners of the 2023 competition on their incredible accomplishments and hope this encourages other young people in Casey to submit an entry next year!”
Casey Creations is amongst other programs offered by Council that encourages youth participation in creative arts including the Fresh Words Young Writers Competition 2023 and Schools on Stage 2023 musical.
To learn more about Youth Events happening in Casey, please visit https://www.casey.vic.gov.au/youth-events
Casey Creations 2023 Award winners:
Junior Visual Arts
• First place – ‘Polluted Blue’ by Katherine Xinyue Yang
• Merit award – ‘Bird Life’ by Jiaxin Hu
• Merit award – ‘Elements of Vacation by Emily Wang
• Encouragement Award – ‘Dog Portrait’ by Catherine Cui
Junior Photography
• First place – ‘The Path of Life’ by Vinuthi Wijesekara A
• Merit award – ‘Eye Love You’ by Chloe Touzel
• Merit award – ‘Future’ by Stasi Kabanova
• Encouragement award – ‘The Essence of Emerald Dew’ by Zanita Sameen
Intermediate Visual Arts
• First place – ‘On the Bus’ by Angela Shao
• Merit award – ‘Indian Scout Motorcycle’ by Emily Kozaric
• Merit award – ‘Space Cats’ by Sophia Podsytnik
• Encouragement Award – ‘Collage of Memories’ by Téa Davies
Intermediate Photography
• First place – ‘What’s Broken Can Still Be Beautiful’ by Layla Evans
• Merit award – ‘Hope of Life’ by Chanithu Wijesekara A
• Merit award – ‘The Train Whisperer’ by Nicholas Cowdery
• Encouragement Award – ‘A Creative Spark’ by Kaden Lam
Intermediate Young People with Disability Photography
• Merit award – ‘Beautiful Imperfections’ by Emily Baratta
Senior Visual Arts
• First place – ‘Reflections: Interlude’ by Dilmi Ratnayake
• Merit award – ‘Cottonmouth’ by Pavlina Bohacova
• Merit award – ‘Road to Freedom (Icarus)’ by Rachel Moore-Coulson
• Encouragement Award – ‘Fenrir Devours the Sun’ by Tamryn Rebholz
Senior Young People With Disability Visual Arts
• Merit award – ‘Shadow Over the Fishing Hamlet’ by Liam Richards
Senior Photography
• First place – ‘Broken’ by Eliza Paynter
• Merit award – ‘City Beyond the Haze’ by Anhad Arora
• Merit award – ‘Still’ by Habiba Hydari
• Encouragement Award – ‘Sunset Pier’ by Olivia Vizard
Senior Young People With Disability Photography
• Merit award – ‘Hearing in Society’ by Lily McQuillan
