Brigidine College Randwick student, Daisy Herr, has been named the Mercy Youth Awards 2021 winner with a poster featuring things “that always cheer me up.” 

“I love drawing and painting and the idea for the poster popped into my head as soon as I read about the competition,” said Daisy. “I sketched the poster in pencil and then painted using watercolour; quite a lot of watercolour, I almost used up the whole palette.”

Her artwork was among 240 entries to the competition, which is open to high school students across Australia to bring awareness to social justice issues nationally. Daisy has won a $700 cash prize and $700 for her school, to spend on social justice resources or to donate to a charity addressing social justice in Australia.

 “I can’t believe that I won a competition for the whole of Australia, but I’m so proud I did!” – Daisy Herr 

About the Mercy Youth Awards
The annual Mercy Youth Awards is an initiative of the Mercy Foundation, an organisation established by the Sisters of Mercy, North Sydney in 1990 to improve social equity and inclusion in Australia.  This year, students from 25 schools across Australia created visual representations – i.e. cartoons, artworks, collages or photos – of daily wellbeing activities to help live a healthy life. 

Students were also asked to write a supporting paragraph on this year’s competition theme, ‘Everyday things to do that care for your mental health’, and to complete a mental health quiz.

Daisy’s artwork
“[My artwork is] a collection of things that I know I can do that always cheer me up, like doing some exercise, crocheting or talking to a friend,” Daisy said.

Daisy staunchly believes in the principle of everybody having equal rights and opportunities and plans to join a social justice club in 2022. “Doing nice things for other people feels good,” she said.

“Some things I do when I feel sad or overwhelmed are talk to my mum, write down how I’m feeling, sit in my dad’s study reading cartoons and crocheting” – Daisy Herr

Principal Sharyn Quirk said: “We are so proud of Daisy for winning the Mercy Youth Awards with her exceptional artwork and shining a light on the often stigmatised topic of youth mental health.”

She said Brigidine College “embraces the Mercy values of inclusion and social justice and encourages students to serve the community as part of our social justice and community outreach program.”

By: JUDE THOMAS