Budding artist wears medal all day after winning top prize
A BUDDING Warwick artist has been selected as one of 20 students in the state to be presented with a NAIDOC Medal of Excellence.
Cassie Seibel of Warwick Central State School was presented with the medal on Monday for winning a colouring contest as part of the 2017 NAIDOC Week School Initiative Competition.
The seven-year-old coloured in a lizard, which was then selected as one of the best by a panel that included Aboriginal elders and the NAIDOC patron.
Cassie said she wore the medal almost all day after it was placed around her neck.
A career in creative arts could follow her success.
"I want to be an artist or chef because I love cooking," she said.
"You can paint anything. You can paint a person or a skateboard, anything."
Tonie McIntosh co-ordinated the competition at the school, saying the school was a strong promoter of multiculturalism.
"Aboriginal people are the first people of Australia so it's good to know about our history," she said.
"We always get negative publicity and NAIDOC isn't about that, it's about acknowledging first Australians and our history.
"If we can start (teaching) these kids from an early age to accept, wouldn't that make our world a better place?"
As well as the medal, Cassie also won a DVD player and was eager to watch her favourite movie on it - Dumbo.
