Congratulations to Year 11 student Ella Mitchell who received an Honorable Mention in the International Children's Exhibition of Fine Arts Lidice 2019 - ICEFA Lidice - held in the Czech Republic.

Every year a theme is announced following the recommendation of the UNESCO, such as happiness in 2005, Planet Earth in 2006, light in 2015, and for this year - 2019 the theme was chemistry.

Ella said “My mum saw the competition on line and suggested I enter, as I’d been taking photos during the school holidays,” says Ella. I’d actually taken my photo about a week before I found out about the competition because I was just having a bit of a fiddle around and see what I could do. And I thought eyes have chemistry.”

Ella had taken a photo of her friend’s sister Renee Opie and decided to enter it. She’s been doing photography for nearly two years, and has a Nikon D40, which she bought via TradeMe. This is the first time she has entered a competition.

Ella Mitchell was honoured at a local celebration and exhibition at The Incubator Creative Hub where she was presented with her award by Jan Tinetti MP on behalf of the New Zealand Government.