Albany’s first Lego legend has been crowned with 11-year-old Edward Baker taking out the title for his depiction of a surfacing whale.
The Year 6 Great Southern Grammar student beat 20 other finalists to win the inaugural Paperbark Merchants competition, with Australian Lego personality Ryan McNaught, aka The Brickman, selecting the piece as the best of the bunch.
Edward spent weeks working on his design and The Brickman commended the way his work tells a story.
“The whale is a great Lego model,” Mr McNaught said.
“It tells a great story and has the extra element of having a reveal — a whole underwater world.
“There are two worlds in the one Lego model, fantastic.”
Edward said he was proud of the way he got the whale to break through the water.
“There is a big story going on under the sea, like the sharks hunting the little fish and the scuba diver inspecting the coral reef,” he said.
“On top of the water there are two people very excited about the whale surfacing from the ocean.
“The kelp towers are very pretty but actually help stabilise the top layer of the water.”
No masterpiece comes without adversity though, and Edward encountered some problems along the way. “I did leave it on the couch and the folded clothes squashed it,” he said. “Mum tried to help fix it but unfortunately it all collapsed.
“After some tears, we managed to put it back together and I worked out a better way of stabilising the top level.”
Second prize went to George Darmody, 12, with his shark attack build, while Caleb Benson, 12, took out third place with his version of local landmark The Gap.