Monster Art competition winners

9/18/2017

With 207 entries, this really was a monster competition - and so terribly hard to judge! Big thank you to all who entered, and to Whalan and Leonay Public Schools and St Martin's Davidson for getting behind this competition so enthusiastically.

There were so many weird and wonderful, colourful, scary, funny, bizarre monsters to choose from. One winner didn't seem enough - so I have two, PLUS runners-up, PLUS finalists!

All of the entries were amazingly creative, so I needed to consider other things in choosing the finalists and winners. So above and beyond creative, they needed to display one or more of the following:
Lots of detail and thought
Extra effort
Colourful and original drawing/model
Inventive name
Original interest
Quirky combination of drawing, name and interest
Made me laugh
And that very personal thing - it just appealed to me!

To be a winner or runner-up they had to fulfil the total brief - ie not only have created a monster but also gave it a name and an interest.

SO - without further ado, my two WINNERS are:

Nadav who is in kindergarten, with his monster, Doug:

From the minute I saw Doug, I loved him! He's colourful, there's even a bit of collage going on with the pasted fish, his interests are also drawn, colour-coordinated and so original! He ticks so many boxes - original, colourful, effort, unusual interests, cute name and made me laugh.

My other WINNER is...

Alyssa who is in year 1. Her monster, Seretja likes to be with pets, has 54 friends, she is good and lives in a house made from grass.

Seretja is such a colourful and interesting monster with a unique name who can stand up on her own. Alyssa has gone to so much effort with her. Seretja is also gentle which made such a refreshing change from many of the violent monsters I saw! So this monster ticked a lot of boxes - original appearance, colourful, interesting, effort, detailed, unique personality and interests.

Now for my Runners-up:

First runner-up is Rylie in year 5 with Moo

I love the details of high heels and Moo's quirky love of umbrellas. Rylie has also included Moo's dream of being a barber in Sydney! This is one monster I'd like to meet! Plus, he's my favourite colour - purple!

My second runner-up is Noah in year 3 with Mixed Animal

I love the details of all the animals mixed up in this monster, and how he gets to grow and develop - by eating animals to get their body parts - a bit gruesome, but clever. Also, as I love animals, I liked the way Noah has made an animal mash-up.

My third runner-up is Claire in year 2 with Bad Bob

Bob is cute and colourful, but what I liked most about him was that his interest was unique (he likes water slides) and also included a complication - his teeth always pop the water slides! He was the only monster in the competition that I felt sorry for! I think Claire has what it takes to make up great stories!

All my winners and runners-up will receive a copy of The Scared Book, as will Alex, who was the enthusiastic first entry (see post here). I'll organise a time with my winners to come and speak to their class.

In addition, certificates will be sent out to a number of finalists whose monsters I felt had a certain something extra-special - think hamster monster, pineapple minions, invisible ninjas, 50 toothpicks through wrapping foam, a speed stinger that has both land and aquatic form, a little robotic monster that looks scary but actually likes to have fun with little kids, and a Donald Trump monster making a political statement!