22 August 2015

The Art Gallery of New South Wales today applauds the next wave of artistic talent with the announcement of the winners of the third annual Young Archie competition, which fosters and celebrates creativity among budding young artists from around Australia.

One of the most popular events at the Art Gallery of NSW during Archibald Prize season, the Young Archie competition invites children and teenagers aged between 5 and 18 to create and submit a portrait of someone special in their life.

The 1284 entries received across four age categories were judged on merit and originality by leading Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton, Archibald Prize winner in 2008 and 2013, and Victoria Collings, the Gallery’s senior coordinator of education and family programs. Both judges commended the high standard of entries across all categories and the outstanding achievements of the four winners.

2015 Young Archie competition winners are:

• 5-8 years category: Daniel Harford, age 7, Horsley NSW
• 9-12 years category: Marium El-Hajj, age 12, Arncliffe NSW
• 13-15 years category: Ellie Arnott, age 15, High Range NSW
• 16-18 years category: Harriet Mitchell, age 18, Narrabundah ACT

The winning works stood out for their richness of colour, their use of diverse materials and the artists’ confidence to fill the whole page.

Del Kathryn Barton said the Young Archie competition highlights the wonderful creative talents of young people.

“Young artists don’t hold back. They are very honest with their feelings and this really shines through in their art,” Barton said.

“As well as celebrating the talent and passion of young artists, the Young Archie also celebrates the importance of family. Many of this year finalist entries capture special relationships with parents, grandparents and siblings,” Barton added.

Victoria Collings, the Gallery’s senior coordinator of education and family programs, said, “We are thrilled to see the tremendous level of skill, imagination and creativity displayed by all winners and the outstanding effort, passion and time put into each and every portrait.”

Each winner receives a gift card from ANZ to the value of $100, an art hamper from Faber-Castell and a family pass to the Sydney International Art Series exhibition The Greats: masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland as well as an ANZ money box and Archibald 2015 catalogue.

The Young Archie competition is a family-focused exhibition on display at the Art Gallery of NSW until 27 September 2015. It runs concurrently with the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2015 exhibition. The five finalist artworks from each age category are on display at the Art Gallery of NSW. Artworks that received an honourable mention are displayed at the S.H. Ervin Gallery in The Rocks, alongside the Salon des Refusés.

View the Young Archie finalists and honourable mentions from this year

About the Young Archie Competition
As part of the Gallery’s Archibald Prize family-focused activities since 2013, the Young Archie competition invites budding artists between 5 – 18 years old to submit a portrait of someone special to them. Young Archie has four age categories: 5-8 years old, 9-12 years old, 13-15 years and 16-18 years old. Five finalists from each category will be exhibited at the Gallery (18 July – 27 September) and on the Gallery website, with one winner selected from each category. Each winner will receive a gift card from ANZ to the value of $100 and an art hamper from Faber-Castell.