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<TITLE>And the winners are:</TITLE>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="7"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:36pt'><B>MEDIA RELEASE<BR>
</B></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE="5"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>10 July 2008<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>The Australian Academy of Design and Connex congratulate the winners of the 2008 Academy Poster Prize Competition. <BR>
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Winners were announced at the opening of the exhibition of finalists last night Wednesday 9 July. Finalists were selected from entries received from students all over Victoria. They included quirky aliens and crop circles, surreal train stations and cute little foxes queuing for a tram.<BR>
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The Academy Poster prize encourages young artists and designers by exhibiting all finalists in the schools and tertiary categories, and a small selection from the open category. <BR>
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A scholarship for the study in the Bachelor of Design Arts degree at the Academy is awarded to the entrant deemed to have the most potential. <BR>
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Connex awarded the winners a total of $3000 in prize money on opening night. <BR>
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Port Phillip major Janet Cribbs who opened the exhibition stated ”how relevant the public transport theme currently is today. I am just so impressed with the quality and variety of the interpretations of the theme ‘close encounters of a public transport kind’“.<BR>
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The judges had great difficulty in choosing winners from a strong field, and so decided to award equal first prize in the schools category (years 10-12) to Deniz Demir of Brunswick Secondary College and Virginia Hau of Camberwell Girls Grammar. They each received prize money of $250.<BR>
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Winners of the tertiary category were: equal first Judith Sammut of Chisholm TAFE and Julian De Lio of Australian Academy of Deign who took equal shares in the $1000 prize.<BR>
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The Academy Award of a $1000 scholarship toward studying at the Australian Academy of Design went to Michael Deurwaarder of Eltham High School.<BR>
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Open category winners were: equal first Sonya Sing Lee and Ben McNamara who each received $750.<BR>
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<B>An Exhibition of Finalists is being held at the Academy’s Clement Meadmore gallery. It is open from 9am-5pm Mon-Fri at 220 Ingles St, Port Melbourne, until 26 July.<BR>
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The Academy congratulates the following finalists:<BR>
FINALISTS – Schools (years 10-12) category<BR>
· Samantha Auty of Shelford Girls Grammar, <BR>
· Deniz Demir of Brunswick Secondary College, Yr 11<BR>
· Michael Deurwaarder of Eltham High, Yr 12<BR>
· Caill Dunstan of Melbourne Grammar School, Yr 10<BR>
· Sophie Ereglidis of Cheltenham Secondary, Yr 11<BR>
· Virginia Hau of Camberwell Girls' Grammar School, Yr 12<BR>
· Matilda Innes of Geelong Grammar, Yr 12<BR>
· Adam Kollwitz of Knox School, Yr 11<BR>
· Chelsea Rouse of Bayside Secondary, VET<BR>
· Gus Young of Melbourne Grammar School, Yr 10<BR>
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FINALISTS – Tertiary category<BR>
· Rachel Bailey of GOTAFE Wangaratta<BR>
· Julian DeLio of the Australian Academy of Design<BR>
· Rose Fyson of Chisholm TAFE<BR>
· Chris Howard of Goulburn Ovens TAFE<BR>
· Andrew Laba of the Australian Academy of Design<BR>
· Porntima Lekhawichit of Goulburn Ovens TAFE<BR>
· Judith Sammut of Chisholm TAFE<BR>
· Brock Sims of the Australian Academy of Design<BR>
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FINALISTS – Open category<BR>
· Ryan Eyre of Park Orchards<BR>
· Ben NcNamara of Chirnside Park<BR>
· Sonia Sing Lee of Northcote<BR>
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Photographs of winners are available upon request.<BR>
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The Australian Academy of Design Poster Prize is an annual competition. For advance notice of the 2009 competition contact Sandra Boyd at the Australian Academy of Design on 9676 9000 or by email at marketing@designacademy.edu.au <BR>
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The Academy delivers the unique Bachelor of Design Arts degree with major studies in photo media, advertising, graphic design and visual arts, and the Diploma of Fashion Design in a specialized and focused arts environment. <BR>
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Open Day is 10 August at 220 Ingles St, Port Melbourne.<BR>
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For further information about the Academy go to www.designacademy.edu.au<BR>
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