Corangamite Arts present the awards, and member Gail Watson said the group sets aside about $1000 each year for it’s awards program. 

“We have a few different awards each year, all in Josie’s memory,” Mrs Watson told The Standard. 

“Josie was a founder and had been president, secretary, and treasurer. Because Josie worked so hard, not only for Corangamite Arts, but in the wider community, we decided to instigate the awards to encourage artists in the region. 

“We give a couple of different awards. We have given a scholarship to schools to give to students to encourage them to pursue a form of the arts. It can be anything from music and painting to writing and drawing. 

“We then, as a group, seek applications and present groups or individuals from the wider community with the award.”

This year’s recipients were the Corangamite Art’s writers’ group and local musician Angela Preiss. 

Mrs Watson said the writers’ group would use its grant to produce a bookmark with members’ works printed on them, which would in turn raise money to produce a book next year. She said Ms Preiss would use her award to produce a CD of her work. 

“It’s about continuing to do what Josie did so well, encouraging people to have some form of art in their life,” she said. 

The awards were presented at a concert in Noorat on Sunday and organiser Fiona Pugh said there was an eclectic mix of musicians from within Corangamite Arts.

“The String Players Forum, which is made up of students from Terang, Camperdown, Mortlake and Mercy Regional colleges, as well as juniors from St Patrick’s in Camperdown, performed, along with Peter Daffy’s Tune a Week folk group, and another group know as TREE, as well as poets and other lyricists.

“It was a wonderful morning and we were so pleased to see the hall full.”