Drawings of koalas in Santa hats, platypuses holding presents, gingerbread men, fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and an elf on a shelf have captured the ‘Joy of Christmas’, as an avalanche of entries were submitted for the 2023 Minister’s Christmas Card Competition.

Thirty winning artworks by primary school students from public schools across NSW feature on Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car’s, Christmas cards.

Ms Car thanked the students who entered this year’s competition.

“Looking at all of this year’s entries was such a joy and reminded me that we have some really talented young artists here in NSW,” she said.

“It was tough to pick just 30 winning Christmas designs, and I am so excited to see what the primary school students come up with next year.”

The winning designs were selected from more than 900 entries and divided into three categories - Christmas Spirit, Detail Dynamos and Merry and Bright.

Winning artworks featured students from Kindergarten to Year 6, from areas including the Northern Rivers, Illawarra, Riverina and western Sydney.

Vriha Jaiswal, a Year 2 student from Riverbank Public School, was one of the 30 chosen and said being selected as a feature artist was the “best Christmas present ever”.

Winning designs from the 2023 Education Minister’s Christmas Card Competition can be viewed here.