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Lightning Ridge Opal Awards: Here are the Winners of the $35,0000 Australian Opal Awards 2024!

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The brand new Australian Opal Awards were held at the Lightning Ridge Bowling Club on Friday, July 26th, Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. The competition includes seven jewellery award categories and a people”‘s choice award, with over aud$35,000 in cash and prizes. 

And we have all of the winners here for you in the Roskin Gem News Report!

AOA
The Australian Opal Awards is the award section of the International Opal Jewellery Design Awards Association (IOJDAA). The association is a not for profit organisation founded in 2000 to promote freeform and or undulating opal. It is dedicated to supporting the opal industry and the Lightning Ridge community at large. 

AUSTRALIAN OPAL AWARDS – CATEGORIES 

  • Open Prestige Jewellery – featuring any shaped Australian opal 
  • Freeform Prestige Jewellery – featuring freeform/undulating Australian opal 
  • Masterpiece Australian opal carving 
  • Freestyle Australian opal carving 
  • Designer Wear for Men – featuring freeform/undulating Australian opal 
  • Digital Jewellery Entry – featuring freeform/undulating Australian opal 
  • Jewellery Hand Sketches 
  • People”‘s Choice 

To MC the awards ceremony was Ruth Benjamin-Thomas, of Black Opal Direct.

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MC for the evening, Ruth Benjamin-Thomas of Black Opal Direct.

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Iris of Koroit by Deirdre Featherstone being modeled for the event.

WINNERS OF THE $35,0000 AUSTRALIAN OPAL AWARDS 2024

With over 250 in attendance, the winners of the Australian Opal Awards were announced! And the $15,000 Open Prestige Jewellery Award was won by Artisan Bespoke Jewellers for their piece “Khroma”.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
Khroma by Artisan Bespoke Jewellers – winner of the $15,000 Open Prestige Jewellery Award.

“The winning piece Khroma was unique in design and meticulously crafted with a very clever use of coloured gems to enhance the opal”, said Gary Coffey from Giulians Fine Jewellery who judged the award entries alongside Cameron Marks from Percy Marks and Terry Coldham from Intogems who is also the Patron of the Gemmological Association of Australia. The judges, who were extremely generous with their time, have over 130 years of combined experience in the jewellery and gem trade.

The Freeform Jewellery Award went to “Once Upon a Time” by Blennerhassett Fine Jewellers who won $7,500 sponsored by the Australian Opal Awards.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
Once Upon a Time by Blennerhassett Fine Jewellers – winner of the Freeform Jewellery Award.

Designer Wear for Men, $2,500, sponsored by Black Opal Direct was won by Dean Walker Designs with their piece “Outback Opal Hunters”.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
Outback Opal Hunters by Dean Walker Designs – winner of Designer Wear for Men.
Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
Andrew Duncan received a Highly Commended for his piece “Vection”.

The $2,500 Masterpiece Opal Carving, sponsored by Down to Earth Opals Pty Ltd was won by Katharina Zimmer for her piece “Ridge Rose”.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
“Ridge Rose” by Katharina Zimmer – winner of the Masterpiece Opal Carving Award

Kaitlyn McWilliams received a Highly Commended for her piece “Cerulean Crest”.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
“Cerulean Crest” by Kaitlyn McWilliams received Highly Commended in the Masterpiece Opal Carving Award

The $2,500 Freestyle Australian Opal Carving, sponsored by Down to Earth Opals Pty Ltd was won by Joe Belicka for his piece “Crystal Blossom”.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
“Crystal Blossom” by Joe Belicka – winner of the Freestyle Opal Carving Award

Down to Earth Opals also sponsored a free carving workshop as a Carving Encouragement Award which went to “Scallop” by Penny-Ann Clark.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
“Scallop” by Penny-Ann Clark, received a Highly Commended in the Freestyle Opal Carving Category.

Austgems Pty Ltd sponsored the $1,500 Digital Jewellery Entry Design Award which was won by Corey Gibson for his piece “Spinner”.

The $1,000 Jewellery Hand Sketches Award sponsored by Absolute Opals & Gems Pty Ltd was won by Hung-lin Jenia for “Golgotha”. Pauline Bai received a Highly Commended for “Seahorses.”

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
“Golgotha” by Hung-lin Jenia – winner of the Jewellery Hand Sketches Award.
“Seahorses” by Pauline Bai, received Highly Commended in the Jewellery Hand Sketches category

The $1,000 People”‘s Choice Award sponsored by Black Opal Direct was won by Otto Jewellery for “Fire Bird”.

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
“Fire Bird” by Otto Jewellery, received the People”‘s Choice Award and a Highly Commended in the Open Prestige Jewellery Award.

New Rules and Categories for 2024
“It’s always a challenge when you do something new,” says President Kavitha Barron. “We revamped the Awards and rationalised the jewellery categories. We received some incredibly constructive feedback from entrants, judges and sponsors alike. The outcome being that we really got it right, but we will be tweaking it a little bit to keep improving.”

So as they say in all competitions, wait until next year!

Some other entries for which we have images that we would like to highlight here are the following:

Prestige Open Jewellery
Blue Eye – Gennadiy Karpenko

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Cavita”‘s Love – Gennadiy Karpenko

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Garden of Eden – Weiss Opals

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Iris of Koroit – Deirdre Featherstone

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.


Midnight in the Daintree – Rhea Poddar

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.


Seaworld – Gennadiy Karpenko

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.

Freeform Jewellery
A glitch in the Matrix – Corey Gibson

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Reunion 3 – Sandy Bucknell

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.


Mori Chikara – Mishka Leith

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.


The Snow Goose – Ffion Caines

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.


Purple Sunbeams – Samantha Tsiagalis

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.

Freestyle Carving
Tinysaur – Justine Buckley

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Indian – Leanne Stanton

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Jewellery Hand Sketches
Jim Jim Falls – Chia Wen Chang

Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
Portrait of a man with glasses and short black hair against a plain background.
” Justin Thomas, Black Opal Direct, Sponsor, Maxine O’Brien, Vice President of AOA, and Ruth Benjamin-Thomas, MC.”

And none of this would be possible without the generous sponsors listed below:
True Blue Opals Pty Ltd
Iris Opals Pty Ltd
Down to Earth Opals Pty Ltd
Austgems Pty Ltd
Black Opal Direct
Absolute Opals & Gems Pty Ltd
Lahoud Opals Pty Ltd
Australian Opal Association
Walgett Shire Council
Lightning Ridge District Bowling Club
Lightning Ridge Miners”‘ Association Ltd

For more information about the AOA and the Opal Awards, Tap Here!

Roskin Gem News Report