Matahui School, located between Katikati and Tauranga, has won a national award for their environmental mural design as part of the Keep New Zealand Beautiful (KNZB) Wall Worthy competition.

A mural titled ‘Our Envioschool Vision – Kereru in the Pohutukawa' will be painted on a wall at the entrance of the school for everyone to see when they visit the school.

The mural design centres around a Pohutukawa tree surrounded by animals and insects local to the school, including the Bittern which is the school bird, a worm, a bee, a butterfly, a Tui, a Kiwi, a Kereru, a flying Kishfisher and a Fantail, all set against a beach background.

In their submission, Matahui School says the mural will celebrate the beauty of the Bay of Plenty with its many beaches, bird life and estuaries.

The Wall Worthy competition is part of the Paint New Zealand Beautiful programme, which ran from January to April and is sponsored by Resene.

Early childhood centres, schools and community groups were encouraged to submit mutal designs which included and environmental message.

Submissions were received from all over New Zealand, and the top 15 murals were selected based on their environmental message, enhancement of the local area, and originality and creativity.

The public were then asked to vote to decide on the winning ten entires, and the winning designs received a $750 Resene paint voucher and other materials to paint their murals as well as a GoPro camera on completion of their mural.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson says the programme is very beneficial for students.

"The Paint New Zealand Beautiful programme works in collaboration with students and artists to inspire, imagine and engage projects that fuse art with nature, develop a sense of communal ownership over space, represent diversity, empower people to make change and transform their communities into masterpieces.

'Numerous studies have shown the great impact mural art has on their surrounding communities - from increasing civic pride, to a reduction in anti-social behaviour such as littering and graffiti.

'Together with Resene, we're excited to see this mural come to life and help Matahui School beautify their corner of New Zealand".

The Matahui School mural will be completed at the end of the school year.

Other Wall Worthy winners and regions include:

Hillcrest Highschool – Hamilton

Moanataiari School – Thames

Wainui Beach School – Gisborne

Campion College – Gisborne

Te Mahia School – Wairoa

Taradale Primary School – Napier

Inglewood High School – New Plymouth

Nelson Central School Community Group – Nelson

Otago Childcare Centre – Dunedin