The award ceremony for Griffith's Shining a Light On Me program has shown a love of horses to be a recurring theme among the MIA's young people.
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The program was a smartphone photography competition run by the Personnel Group and began in November and ran in Griffith, Albury, Wodonga, Wagga, Wangaratta and Benalla.
The competition was aimed at residents aged 15 to 21 years and gave participants the task of submitting a photograph which best illustrated what it is that makes them unique.
In the state-wide division, Griffith resident Beau Routley won third place out of the six regions in the judged category.
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Beau's photo showed he and his father sharing a moment of pride for his achievements during a local league match.
Program coordinator Chelsea Fraser said the Personnel Group received 100 entries about 20 of which came from Griffith.
However when it came to awards for the Griffith region specifically, two different horse lovers won Griffith's community vote and Griffith's most popular online vote.
Resident Evie Morrison won the most popular online vote category for her photo of herself and her equestrian horse.
"What I wanted to say was that you should focus on what comes from your heart and from yourself and not to worry what other people think," Evie said.
"If I listened to everyone when I was back in high school I wouldn't be where I am now with horse riding because everyone thought it was lame.
"I used to do pony club, but now I have started doing campdrafts and have actually won two ribbons on that horse, third place at the Carrathool Campdraft and the Miragen Campdraft."
Resident Jade Earl won the community vote for her photo of her sister Dakota nuzzling her horse Banjo.
Jade said her inspiration for the photo was the joy she felt at seeing her sister grow-up around horses like she did.
Jade said entering in the contest was a big step, helping her develop the confidence to promote herself and her work in public.
This year Jade says she is going to begin studying to become a veterinarian.
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