The awards are a new addition to the annual SALA Festival and aim to encourage South Australian schools to participate and engage with visual arts as part of the festival.

Talented students from across South Australia have participated in the inaugural Credit Union SA School Art Awards during the 2018 SALA Festival, with winners being announced at a special event held at the Art Gallery of South Australia on Wednesday 19 September.

The awards are a new addition to the annual SALA Festival and aim to encourage South Australian schools to participate and engage with visual arts as part of the festival.

Credit Union SA’s CEO, Grant Strawbridge said “Credit Union SA is proud to partner with SALA and continue our long-standing history in support of the education community through these awards.”

“Judging was extremely difficult with the exhibitions being of such a high quality, and I congratulate all schools and students who participated. We look forward to seeing even more schools join in on this fantastic South Australian event next year. ”

24 schools entered the 2018 awards, with exhibitions as far north as Pukatja Kungkas, Ernabella Community.

Joint winners were announced for the Primary Schools category with Woodside Primary and St Brigid’s School sharing the award.

Judges considered that Woodside Primary’s artwork was exemplary with students working together to communicate their concerns around the growing awareness of the impact of plastics in our oceans and the exhibition at St Brigid’s was a standout with students celebrating their diverse cultural heritage and their own individual identities in the community.

The runner-up Primary School award was presented to Elizabeth Grove Primary School for their art installation at Playford Civic Centre, Square-eyed.

The Secondary School Category was won by the South Coast collective of schools including Victor Harbor High School, Encounter Lutheran College and Investigator College. The unique exhibition also incorporated work from primary schools including Goolwa Primary School, Port Elliot Primary School and Victor Harbor R – 7 School.

Bowden Brompton Community School and St John’s Grammar School were announced as joint runner-up award winners in the Secondary School category.

Primary School Award:

Joint Winners:  Woodside Primary – Plastic Oceans

St Brigid’s School – Identity Explorers

Runner Up:        Elizabeth Grove Primary School – Square-eyed

Secondary School Award:

Winner:                     South Coast collective of schools including Victor Harbor High School, Encounter Lutheran College and Investigator College – SALA School Art Show

Joint Runner Up:     Bowden Brompton Community School – Work Hard Dream Big

St John’s Grammar School – Current Practice

Winners and runners-up for each category will share in $2,500 and $1,000 cash prizes respectively for their schools.

The winning schools will also work with the team at Dream BIG Festival to remount an adaptation of their exhibition at the Adelaide Festival Centre during the event from 22 May until 1 June 2019.

Judges for the awards included Grant Strawbridge and Nicholas Linke, Chair of the SALA Board, as well as representatives from SALA Festival.

SALA Festival CEO, Penny Griggs said it was wonderful to see art from talented student artists in schools across the state and providing the opportunity for young artists to have their work on show.

“SALA Festival is about celebrating all types of local living artists and it’s important to encourage the creative talents of our young people.”

SALA Festival is held annually throughout the month of August, this year there were over 700 exhibitions and events featuring over 9,000 participating artists.

Entry for the 2019 Credit Union School Awards will be open from early 2019 with all schools registered for SALA Festival 2019 automatically qualifying for the awards. Details will be made available on the SALA Festival website from January 2019.

For more information on the SALA Festival Credit Union SA School Art Awards winners, visit https://www.salafestival.com/current-awards/

Media contact: Penny Griggs [email protected] OR 8233 0675 OR 0401 307 477

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