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It feels like this year has been one big awards and Champagne season and we are definitely not complaining!

We announced our third annual Belle Artstart competition winners at the end of February which was a perfect prelude to Art Month which brightened Sydney during March. Victorian College of the Arts student Angus Hamra took out the first prize of $10,000, generously donated by Belle Property, for his work, Sleepwalker, using a selfie as a starting point – see p47 for more on the art and winners.

The winner of the Alessi Design Awards 2018, Zachary Hanna, is a similarly talented young creative – he has won this year’s highly coveted prize for his vase ‘Plateau’, which was inspired by ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement. Zachary is a University of Technology Sydney graduate and specialises in product design. He will be visiting the Alessi headquarters in Milan as part of his prize.

I can’t believe that we are in the eighth year of the Belle Coco Republic Interior Design Awards – make it to 10 years and we promise you a book looking back at the work of our winners and finalists. The volume and calibre of entries this year were outstanding, and we received the most entries to date making it very difficult for our judging panel to reach a consensus. For the full round-up of finalists in this year’s awards go to p71.

The Belle team has also been doing its fair share of flying around, and I was fortunate to visit Uluru and stay at Longitude 131˚ (p172) which has had some fabulous recent updates. There is nothing like waking up to the mystical view of Uluru especially if you have chosen the verandah glamping option and you’ve just emerged from your luxe swag.

Our interior design editor Lucy Mccabe’s love of fabric knows no bounds and on p81 we showcase some gorgeous seating and cloth pairings to inspire you – it’s so exciting to see a downtrodden piece transformed with a fresh outfit!

Speaking of interiors inspiration, this issue we welcome style doyenne Melissa Penfold back to the Belle fold. Melissa moved from our sister publication Australian House & Garden (which, by the way, just celebrated 70 years) to Belle in the 1980s as interior design coordinator and quickly became interior design editor where she stayed until the mid-90s when a newspaper career beckoned. We are pleased to have Melissa penning our new Style Etiquette page – sometimes it feels like there is a manners deficit all round and our new style mistress will be imparting her wit and wisdom on everything from how to set and style a contemporary table to pillow protocol – see p59.

There is so much talent in this issue I haven’t even mentioned the stunning houses in Sydney, Melbourne and London starting on p109. Enjoy the issue and we will be back at the end of May with our June/july issue featuring this year’s Belle Coco Republic Interior Design Awards winners.