The recently appointed Executive Director of the Lester Prize for Portraiture, Shannon Yujnovcich was our Speaker this week, and she gave us the background to this not-for-profit organisation plus a wonderful display of many of the Youth entries from 2023 and 2024. Formerly known as the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, it was renamed the Lester Prize in 2019 in honour of one of the two Patrons, Dick Lester. The other Patron is Tina Wilson who founded the Black Swan Prize. The Lester Prize comprises both Adult and Youth Awards, and today’s talk focussed on the latter. It certainly demonstrated the prestige of the competition, and we learned that the prize pool totals around $121,000 – putting it in a league similar to that of the Archibald Prize. This year’s contest attracted 930 entries, and 40 of these became finalists. Two of the finalists were Jim and Mary Anne Berry’s grand-daughters Mary and Libby, and all four of them were present at the talk. Libby took out the Year 9/10 First Prize, and Mary’s entry was a portrait of Sr Anna, a Nun at Iona Presentation College. The Lester Prize’s annual program includes exhibitions at the WA Museum Boola Bardip, outdoor exhibitions, big screen displays, guided tours, floor talks, live demonstrations, workshops and outdoor pop-up events (many of which are free to the public). The Organisation also works with Starlight Livewire at Perth Children’s Hospital, aged care residents, and schools working towards making positive changes within their communities.