Main Menu

The Kids Helpline Challenge 2021

We asked you for your fun, interesting, unusual or helpful coping strategies!

There were 4x $1,000* cash prizes to be won!

We received 35 amazing entries. Thank you to everyone who shared their coping strategies with us!

Congratulations to our 4 winners. Check out their entries below.

A collage of different kinds of digital content including videos, animations and social posts

And the winners are...

'Breathe' by Harry

Prize category: 13-17 year old | Video

"Amazing short film! Simplistic, with great use of repetition, sounds and theme. Engaging, great quality (sound/visual), with strong, clear communication and a lot of emotion!" - Judge from our Youth Advisory Group

'Fiction' by Holly

Prize category: 13-17 year old | Other digital content

Holly says, "Just FYI, in my artwork the snake represents external pressures, e.g. school, family issues, etc."

"Very powerful! Beautiful piece. Use of fantasy as a literal escape is extremely clever. Nice use of shading throughout. I can feel myself slipping into the book." - Judge from our Youth Advisory Group

'Hug your teddies' by Jeyden

Prize category: 18-25 year old | Video

"Wow! This video has everything! I love how the video starts, with Jeyden admitting he wasn't really sure what coping strategies were at first (because a lot of people feel that way). Then Jeyden shows us his coping strategies - which includes beautiful nature shots and cute animals. It's also so great that he added captions, making this video really friendly and accessible!" - Kids Helpline counsellor judge

'Finding your silver lining' by Joseph

Prize category: 18-25 year old | Other digital content

Joseph says, "Finding your silver lining, painted in black and white, represents an individual and their emotions which slowly begins to spiral and unravel into what looks like a windmill, representative of pushing back of its surroundings. The unstructured mess and patterns surrounding this individual represent thoughts, expressions and feelings. The contrast between what's inside versus outside shows eye provoking and fluid-like behaviour of which I feel sometimes my mental health condition exhibits, this may be similar to many others with or without similar experiences. I chose black and white to demonstrate a perspective that some may see their world as, it can be extremely difficult to see nothing but this, especially if you suffer from a mental illness. This piece shows my own experience living with Bipolar Disorder and how my thoughts, expressions and feelings can behave in this manner or colour, yet... if you take a step back from it all can you then find the beauty in who I am and how I feel and think – Finding your Silver Lining".

"What an incredible piece! Visually, so beautiful and engaging. And it has such meaning! Joseph has poured his heart and soul into this and it really shows. Art is such a powerful coping strategy." - Kids Helpline counsellor

Want to see more?

Follow us on Insta to keep up-to-date with each finalist's entries as they are released!