17 SEPTEMBER 2016

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is proud to announce the winners of the fourth annual Young Archie competition, which fosters and celebrates creativity among budding young artists around Australia.

The Young Archie competition runs alongside the annual Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize and invites children and teenagers aged between five and 18 years to create and submit a portrait of someone special in their life.

This year, there were more than 2200 entries into the Young Archie competition from young artists across the country – almost twice as many entries as 2015.

The 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.

The 2016 Young Archie competition winners for each age category are:

• 5-8 years category: Alexander Bennett, Wahroonga NSW, with a portrait of his best friend, Jihan.
• 9-12 years category: Mikael Woo, Baulkham Hills NSW, with a portrait of his father, William Woo.
• 13-15 years category: Olivia Lee, Willoughby NSW, with a portrait of her twin sister, Margot.
• 16-18 years category: Dilara Niriella, Bella Vista NSW, with a portrait of her father Dasmin Niriella.

Del Kathryn Barton said, “Being a judge for the Young Archie is such a delight because you are witness to the incredible talents and passions of our youngest Australian artists.

“There is a remarkable honesty and creativity in each Young Archie portrait which makes judging a challenging but thoroughly enjoyable task,” Barton added.

Victoria Collings, the Art Gallery of NSW’s senior coordinator of education and family programs, said, “It was wonderful to see the inventiveness and energy in this year’s Young Archie entries. The portraits bring to light a key relationship from each child’s life, with each drawing providing an inspiring insight into the positive impact of their family and friends.”

Each age category winner is awarded a cash prize of $100 from ANZ, an art hamper from S&S Creative, a family pass to a paid exhibition at the Gallery and an Archibald 2016 catalogue.

Fred Ohlsson, ANZ Group Executive Australia said, “Congratulations to the four winners of this year’s Young Archie competition. As Principal Sponsor, ANZ is proud to support the next generation of Australian artists and continue our long history supporting the arts and community in New South Wales.”

Artworks that received an honourable mention are displayed on the Art Gallery of NSW website and at the S.H. Ervin Gallery in the Rocks, alongside the Salon des Refusés 2016 exhibition.

The full list of finalists of the 2016 Young Archie competition and details of the exhibition, are on view here.

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 (16 Jul – 9 Oct 2016) and on the Gallery website, with one winner selected from each category. Each winner will receive $100 from ANZ and an art hamper from S&S Creative.