The winners of the shop front display competition, which ran as a part of the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival, were Canobolas Public School and Collins Booksellers.

The artworks were based on Banjo Paterson’s poem White Cockatoos and have been displayed in the window of the shop.

The display featured the poem, two drawings, a paper river and trees as well as a painted, wooden cookatoo.

Collins Bookstore co-owner Margaret Schwebel said the competition was a good opportunity for students to see their artworks on display.

“It’s lovely for the children, they put so much effort into their artworks every year,” she said.

“To be able to display their artworks to the public is great.

“We try to poems that aren’t the usual Banjo Paterson poems.”

Caitlyn Thew and Amelia Caulfield said after all of their hard work, they were excited to see their works in the window of the store.

“Quite a lot of work went into it,” Amelia said.

“We worked on our artwork for three days,” Caitlyn said.

The students said they were happy to have the opportunity to participate in the competition.

“We’re glad we were a part of it,” Amelia said.

“We’d like to thank our teach Ms Piggin for all of her help.”

Event committee member Justin Byrne said he was impressed with the works.

“[Collins Booksellers have] done a good window every year and this was the first time they’d won,” Mr Byrne said,

“They’ve chosen a good theme and illustrated with a good range of drawings and collages.

“They grabbed the whole concept and feel of the festival.

Mr Byrne said the artworks recognised the breadth of the poet’s work.

“He wrote an enormous amount of stuff for children and a lot about Australian animals,” he said.

“I liked the fact they chose something that was not well known.”

Mr Byrne said the competition encouraged a love of Banjo Paterson’s poems and reading and writing.

“It’s a way of broadening children’s involvement [with the festival],” he said.

“The kids get really involved and put in a lot of creativity.”