Rising stars rewarded for talent

YOUNG creatives were celebrated at the 2022 City of Greater Bendigo Raw Arts Awards last week.

The awards showcase talented artists under the age of 25 in the region, this year just under 90 entries were received.

“RAW celebrates the creativity of young people and the quality of work produced is very high,” mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf said.

“We’ve endeavoured to keep the categories as broad as possible, so the contributions bring out the best of young talent in their chosen medium.

“We received wonderful applications from artists, writers and film makers from 25 suburbs and small towns across the region.”

Along with a winner and highly commended entry in five categories, including visual arts, literature, performing arts, short film, this year there was a new category.

“This year we introduced the Yo Bendigo/Ambedo Award to capture the experience of being a young person living in Greater Bendigo in 2022,” Cr Metcalf said.

“Ambedo magazine is a free quarterly magazine designed, produced and edited for young people.”

Samantha Johnston won the literary award for her piece A Cappuccino, Tara Muscatello took out the performing arts award for her music, and Ben Martin won the short film award for his work Lure.

Leah Sigley won the visual arts award for her painting titled In four days a top fashion CEO earns what a Bangladeshi garment worker earns in their life, and the inaugural Ambedo Award went to Levity Camilleri for her poem Pose/Poise.

Highly commended artists included Yasmin Russel in the literary category, Kalo Davis in performing arts, Jin Turpie in short film, and Noah Dunstone in visual arts.

Winners for each category received a $1000 cash prize, highly commended entries received $250, and Camilleri was awarded $500 for the Ambedo.

“I congratulate all of the winners and those who have contributed to RAW this year and shared their talent, their imagination and their stories,” Cr Metcalf said.