SAF Students Prize, Gibraltar 2023 Winners Announced
The Sovereign Art Foundation Gibraltar (SAF) held the Awards Ceremony on 30 November for the SAF Students Prize, Gibraltar 2023 at Xapo Bank on Casemates.
The winner of the Judge’s Prize with her painting, ‘The Patata Man’ was Ana Tricker, aged 15. Ana won £800 and £2,000 for her school art department at Bayside Comprehensive School. Ana didn’t think she would be in with a chance of winning but was persuaded to enter by her mother. Her painting of the beach in Rota, Spain she said tells a story of her every summer as far as she can remember, near her granny’s house.
We also congratulate the Public Vote Prize winner Zach Marrache, aged 18, who won with his ink drawing, ‘Synagogues of Gibraltar’. Zach receives £400 and £1,000 for his school art department at Bayside. He commented: “Being the first time that I have taken part in one of these competitions, I was truly excited throughout the process. It has been great for my self-esteem and has motivated me to carry on with the subject and any other thing that I might plan in the future”.
The Hassans Prize, as voted for by Hassans staff went to Jeremy McMahon, aged 18, with his piece ‘Disturbing Alloy’, Jeremy was a student at Bayside and is now taking art foundation in the UK, with a view to a degree in Fine Art after that, so his prize was collected by mother. Hassans awarded him £400 and £400 for his school. Jeremy said: “it was an honour entering and being a winner of this competition as it will be one of my last young artists competitions. From previous entries and now it has opened my eyes on the artist competition scene. Thank you for giving me this opportunity”.
Head of Art at Bayside, Karl Ullger commented: “It is a very proud moment to have a fantastic win like this for the school. Having three of our students take all three top prizes clearly underlines that we are doing something right with our students. There were a lot of quality artworks from students across all of the schools, which is not only credit to the flair and skill of the individual students, but also the hard work put in behind the scenes by all the teachers involved.
We are very grateful to Sovereign Gibraltar and Hassans for the Prize money which will go to funding materials for new projects. Last year’s money went into buying extra clay and glazes for our KS3 Clay modules but the idea this year is to invest it back into the upper school. We are already looking forward in supporting the Sovereign Art Foundation again next year”.
The Ceremony was presented by Darren Whitley, MD of Sovereign Pension Services Gibraltar. Judge Sebastian Rodriguez presented the Judge’s Prize Winner and SAF Trustee and Director of Sovereign Tax Services, Lynette Chaudhary presented the Public Vote Prize Winner. Wayne Fortunato, Partner at Hassans presented the Hassans Prize.
In his speech, The Honourable Christian Santos GMD MP, Minister for Equality, Employment, Culture and Tourism said: “Regardless of the winners announced here tonight, please remember you have all achieved so much, as the most important thing as an artist is to exhibit”. He also thanked SAF for encouraging and championing young art.
The following artworks were highly commended and students were presented with a £20 art shop voucher:
- Annalise Cisarego, Cascades Over the River Fowey, Cornwall
- Claudia Costa, Touching Up My Mascara
- Julianne Podesta, Flat Bastion Road
- Kiaine Bosano, Hospital Hill at Dusk
- Ruby Randall, The Painter
Congratulations to all of the finalists on making the shortlist. The auction closed on Friday having sold 4 pieces. Sale proceeds and fundraising income will be split equally between the student and the local not-for-profit programmes SAF supports locally which include MBS – Mind Body & Soul, a wellbeing charitable organisation that delivers art workshops for school children amongst other services.
The SAF Students Prize, Gibraltar 2023 is presented by Hassans and hosted by Sovereign Gibraltar, who provide the main prize monies and stage the prize. The venue partner was XAPO, with support from Simmons Gainsford LLP; Brooks Macdonald International, and Image Graphics and additional thanks to Ace Art, Schroders and Gibraltar Cultural Services.
The Sovereign Art Foundation Gibraltar is a registered charity, number 337.
