Last Sunday, a cohort of proud parents, grandparents and teachers gathered at the Domain Gardens of Melbourne to attend the award ceremony of the Australian Hellenic Memorial school competition.

Prizes were awarded to thirty six students whose works of art or writing inspired by the WWII Greek campaign stood out from hundreds of submissions.

Among the prize-winners were five students from St Nicholas Greek Orthodox language school in Yarraville.

Award recipients from St Nicholas Greek Orthodox language school in Yarraville (L-R) Iason Kodonas, Dion Smith, Sophia Pourgoutzidis and Agathi Cursio. Grade 6 student Ioulia Kastanis was also among the prize-winners from the school.

Spokesperson for the school Father Alexandros said: “We are very proud of all our students and their involvement in the competition, commemorating their connections with Greece and Australia.”

Open to students of all ages, the competition is organised by the Australian Memorial Foundation for the 9th consecutive year, with the purpose of commemorating Australian and Greek soldiers who fought side by side during WWII.

Contestants are invited to submit a drawing, painting, poem, essay, or an interview with a veteran and benefit from the process by learning about the memorial and the ANZACs tradition in Greece.

“Over 400 Students took part in this year competition, and we thank all the schools and students that participated. We also wish to thank Dr Georgia Nikolaidou, Consul for Educational Affairs, and the Consulate General of Greece for their support,” president Steve Kyritsis OAM said on behalf of the Australian Hellenic Memorial Foundation.
Participation in the competition has grown significantly since its inaugural year in 2010 and the Foundation has already confirmed it will run again in 2019.

The prize-winning students
Cassandra Pappas
Cristiano Gakis
Agathi Cursio
Zoe Tsoumaris
Sophia Pourgoutzidis
Eva Katsoulis
Dion Smith
Gemma Konstandopoulos
Lily Triantopoulos
Zisis Liolios
Iason Kodonas
Grigoria Zisis
Sotiris Bakalis
Ioulia Kastani
Helen Liakopoulou
Christian Panoutsos
Xenia Karagiannis
Joel Wheeler
Dimitri Nousias
Jaan Kolokithas
Mia Hatziminas
Panagiota Nikou
Meghana Abburi
George Pappas
Jordynne Kostaras
Tiffany Kalfoglou
George Bitzios
Emma Sideridis
Bill Hondrakis
Zafira Tsagarakis
Maria Andreou
Marcus Sideridis
Sam Hatziantoniou
James Xydias
Vasiliki Argiriou
Katherine Tsimiklis