The artwork competition produced some amazing designs, which made it a very hard choice for me to decide the winners. In fact, I couldn't choose a winner in the dragon section, and turned to my readers for help.

Congratulations to Dustin Pandita - winner in the Medieval Knight section.

The medieval knight by Dustin Pandita from Macleans College was actually not at all what I was looking for initially, but the more I looked at the illustration, the more I was drawn to it. In fact, the illustration made such an impact on me, that not only did it earn Dustin first place, but I will be changing the description of the knight in the book to match Dustin's illustration! Click the picture to see an enlargement of Dustin's stunning work.

Congratulations to Isabela Siemers winner in the plesiosaur section AND the dragon section.

The gorgeous paua coloured plesiosaur by Isabela Siemers from Cashmere High School is exactly what I was looking for, and earned her first place in that section. That said, Isabela seemed to be more aware of what I wanted than I was, and I will also be changing the text to suit the illustration. Click the picture to see the beautifully detailed work in Isabela's plesiosaur.

Unable to decide on a wining dragon image, I narrowed the choice down to three, and opened it to public vote. My in-box nearly exploded! At the end of four days of counting votes, the final tally was a very close race for second and third place.

In third place, with 19% of the votes, was Phoebe Powell-Moore with her wonderfully detailed dragon. I especially loved the wings of this dragon. Although I had to take the background out to suit the website (left), I loved Phoebe's original drawing (right) with its dramatic background.

In second place, with 20% of the vote (I said it was close) was Claudia Anderson. Claudia submitted two versions of her dragon, one I could adapt to the grey of the website, and another with a detailed background. I loved the power inheritant in this dragon, and the colour of the fire was beautifully done. A truly magnificent beast.

After winning the Plesiosaur section of the competition, with 61% of your votes, Isabela Siemers also took out the dragon section for her incredibly detailed red dragon. Isabela's original dragon was in grey, which I felt was beautiful, but he got a little lost on the grey background of the website. Then she sent through a red version, which blew me away, and the voters agreed. We have certainly discovered a talented young artist here.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and please check out all the entries in the competition.