I felt honored to see all your amazing artwork! I really enjoyed the submissions, and every piece in this show has value and interest. It is always hard to choose a first prize. I saw works that covered a range that stretched from mysterious, haunting or political to playful, quirky, and sweet, and lots of unique approaches to materials and subject matter.

When it comes to looking at, and judging artwork, people have all kinds of diverse and subjective criteria, this means it is often about our personal feelings and our personal response to the artwork. So, I wanted to tell you a bit about my criteria. It included looking at the way you handled the different materials, or the colour, or composition… Did you experiment? Take some risks? Do things in your own way? I also looked at the way your personal voice came through in the artwork… Could I know something about you: the artist, or you: the person when I looked at the artwork? Did it express your life experience or your unique perspective, hopes, fears, passion, interests, or love of creativity in some way? Sometimes when I look at art, there is just a piece that makes me say “Oh yeah!”, and that’s a magical moment when all those criteria boxes are ticked!