Their future is now

An Ōtepoti Youth Vision for the City has been developed over a two year period by 100 young Dunedin people, the Dunedin City Council and other youth-friendly organisations. The DCC in conjunction with the Dunedin Youth Council and the Youth Action Committee then ran a competition to find an artwork to help market and communicate the Vision they produced. Artists aged 12–24 years were invited to enter up to five artworks each in a competition that ran from 4 March to 1 April 2019. The artwork had to support the Vision: 

‘In Ōtepoti (Dunedin) young people are valued, accepted and empowered to lead fulfilled lives, and wellbeing is nurtured.'

The competition was won by one of our Communication Design students, Nikole Robson. Nikole won a new iPhone X and her design will be seen across the city. 

“The inspiration behind this design is based around the values of the Ōtepoti Youth Vision, I felt that the best representation of growth, respect and self empowerment was shown through the albatross, which is also very iconic to Dunedin. The albatross has Māori symbols and art backing the tears, I not only felt like this tied together the bicultural aspects of Dunedin but also was a good way to draw out our roots and reinforce the idea of being a true warrior - which I believe we should all remember we are!”

An official launch was held on 16 May 2019 in a function at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. unveiling Nikole's winning artwork. The artwork will now be used for posters, websites, t-shirts etc. Busineses and organisations are invited to become signatories to the Vision and help put it into action.

• Find out more about working with our Communication Design students