The young winners of Australia's oldest portrait prize have been revealed, with 70 entrants recognised as finalists seeing their work elevated beyond the family fridge to a major gallery.
Still young enough to enter the awards itself, the Young Archie competition is the youth equivalent of the Archibald Prize, with precocious painters invited to submit portraits of someone who is special to them.
The competition - now in its 13th year - is open to those aged five to 18, with the winners crowned on Saturday at the Art Gallery of NSW in front of jubilant family members.
While Archibald subjects often include prominent Australians and celebrities, young painters predominantly captured family, friends, teachers and coaches.
Fathers featured in more than a dozen of the finalist paintings, more than any other subject.
"As a mum I'm a little sad about that but it's not a competition," Art Gallery of NSW director Maud Page said.
Mothers, siblings, grandparents, teachers and coaches were also among the portrait subjects, as well as a few self-portraits.
Jasmine Rose Lancaster Merton took out the 16-18 age category with her own self-portrait My name is Jazz.
"(It's) a side of myself that ... I don't really show to a lot of people.
"I have sort of had a lot of crazy stuff happen to me in my life and I think that I hold a lot of strength and a sort of quietness in there sometimes," the 16-year-old told AAP.
"My dream career is just being able to make art.
"This is a really cool first step in that direction," Jasmine said.
A photorealist-style portrait of her grandfather propelled Tasha Rogoff, 15, to the top of the 13-15 category with What are you doing with that box?
"He kept stealing boxes from whatever we were trying to chuck out before we could get it in the bin," Tasha told AAP.
"Realism is a really good way of expressing who he is; it captures his emotions, his overall character."
Isobel Bazar, 11, won the 9-12 years category for a portrait of her great-grandmother and six-year-old Logan Zhang won the 5-8 years category with a portrait of his dad.
All of the Young Archie winners were based in NSW but more than 3200 entries came in from across the nation.
Indonesian-born artist Jumaadi served as a guest judge alongside the gallery's family programs manager Victoria Collings.
Whittling the 70 finalists down to just four winners proved a difficult task, Jumaadi said.
"It's very inspiring to witness the next generation of artists discovering their gifts."
The finalist's portraits are displayed in the gallery's John Kaldar Family Hall until August 17, in conjunction with the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition.
