By Alana Mitchelson
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Berwick student’s artistic flair has earned him a top award at the Young Australian Art and Writers’ Awards.
When Rohan Ganta received a box of crayons for his birthday, little did he know it would ignite a passion for drawing and painting.
The Brentwood Park Primary School student’s entry ‘The Fox’, depicting a life-like drawing of a fox sitting under the night sky, was selected among 33,000 entries from across Australia.
Rohan was presented with the Australian Scholarships Group (ASG) Art Award for Painting on Saturday 26 November at a ceremony in Melbourne.
Rohan said that since being recognised for this award, he had been drawing every single day.
“I love foxes and I think they’re amazing,“ he said.
Rohan is already thinking about a career in zoo keeping because he loves to look after animals.
ASG chief John Velegrinis said he was impressed by Rohan’s artistic ability and future vision.
“I congratulate Rohan and all the ASG students who are very deserving of these awards,” Mr Velegrinis said.
“ASG’s core mission is about supporting lifelong education and aspirations.
“These awards are also successful because of the support from parents. We know from our research that parents want their children to succeed, and this aspiration is the most significant factor in determining their long-term success.
“When children know how their parents value their education and the high aspirations they have, this encourages them to want to do better and achieve results.”
The awards are an initiative of the Children’s Charity Network (CCN), an organisation that helps build confidence and self-esteem in children.
CCN executive director Rob Leonard said the awards continued to go from strength to strength.
“Each year the calibre of submissions gets even more exceptional, and it makes the judging process so much more difficult,” Mr Leonard said.
“Each of the award recipients are definitely budding authors and artists who have exciting futures ahead of them. Their imagination is just incredible and some of their stories still bring a tear to my eye.”
