Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Student’s design goes national
An aspiring artist will see her sports-inspired artwork printed on thousands of school books across the country.
Lily Martin-Babin, 16, who lives in Blenheim, won the nationwide Warehouse Stationary Cool Cover competition with her design of native birds portrayed as sports accessories, after seeing off competition from hundreds of other hopefuls.
Her eye-catching design will feature on the front cover of 1B5 school exercise books which will be sold at Warehouse Stationery.
All proceeds from the sale of books will go to the Warehouse Stationery Scholarship Fund.
The fund is a partnership between The Salvation Army and Warehouse Stationery, providing scholarships for six young New Zealanders who would otherwise not have been able to afford tertiary education.
Lily’s design caught the eye of competition judge Kees Meeuws, who is an ex-All Black, former Otago and Highlanders coach and keen artist.
The year 13 student from Marlborough Girls’ College says she came up with the idea while sketching rugby balls for her entry.
Her winning design includes a white heron as a netball, a moa as a squash racket, a pukeko as a table tennis bat, a weka as a basketball, a kakapo as a tennis ball, a fantail as a badminton shuttlecock and a kiwi as a rugby ball.
‘‘So I built upon this [rugby ball sketch] and drew a kiwi and it worked surprisingly well. I then tried it with other native birds and they also turned out pretty great.
‘‘I was in utter shock when I found out that I’d won, I was so excited and happy and immediately told my family and friends,’’ Lily says.
‘‘I’m a really keen artist and I hope to one day have a career in art or graphic design.’’
‘‘I’m delighted and proud to know that the public can purchase my design so my art becomes part of New Zealand school life.’’
Lily won an iPad and a $500 Warehouse Stationery voucher would go to her school.