Junk to Funk 2026: Celebrating creativity and sustainability
There are some events that really capture your heart and mind — and Junk to Funk is one of those events for us. It truly was an honour to host this event and celebrate our creative community. This year, 52 entries took on the challenge of turning junk into funk! That is an epic milestone for the 4th year of Junk to Funk, and our 2nd year running the event in its current format – and we were blown away to see 20 more entries than the previous year!
But Junk to Funk is about so much more than numbers. It’s about people seeing potential in things that might otherwise be thrown away. It’s about creativity, storytelling, craftsmanship and showing what is possible when we look at our “junk” a little differently. And our community absolutely got behind it.
We can’t thank you enough for entering, sponsoring, volunteering, visiting the exhibition, and supporting this event. You all helped create such an incredible vibe around the event. Thank you for helping us make Junk to Funk 2026 one to remember.
And the winners were…
Primary School
🥇 1st — Highfield School Garden Club
🥈 2nd — Lucas Ballantyne
Recognition Awards:
✨ Olivia Bragg
✨ Jonathan Burns
✨ Charlotte Napier & Zoe Jackson
High School
🥇 1st — Sophie Coe
🥈 2nd — Timaru Central St John Cadets
🥉 3rd — Noah Marr
Adults — Funktional
🥇 1st — Heath Rainey
🥈 2nd — John Rushton
🥉 3rd — Mary-Jane Konings
Adults — Upcycled Art
🥇 1st — Matthew Cockburn
🥈 2nd — Kieran Fitzgerald
🥉 3rd — Val Autridge
This year, to our delight, we also introduced a Preschool category! A huge thank you to Elena and the three ECEs who supported this new, free category – we enjoyed celebrating all ages!
People’s Choice Award
The community also got to have their say during the public exhibition, with visitors voting for their favourite entry.
Congratulations to Highfield School Garden Club, who took out the People’s Choice Award! They took home the trophy and a $100 Prezzy Card, thanks to our generous sponsor Enviro NZ.
And congratulations to Alison Farron, who was the lucky winner of the Family Raptor Experience drawn from everyone who voted for the People’s Choice Award.
Thank you to our judges!
Our judges, Jen Evans and Roselyn Fauth, had the very tricky job of choosing the winners from such a fantastic range of entries. Thank you, Jen and Rose, for giving your time and expertise to judge again this year.
A huge thank you to our sponsors
Events like Junk to Funk don’t happen without the support of our amazing sponsors.
A massive thank you to:
- Enviro NZ
- Crow’s Nest Timaru
- Timaru Sewing Centre
- The Raptor Experience
- Timaru Booksellers
- Sal’s Authentic New York Pizza
Your support helped make the competition possible and provided some awesome prizes for our entrants and voters.
Save the Date — Junk to Funk 2027!
Already thinking about next year?
SAVE THE DATE!
📅 Junk to Funk 2027 Public Exhibition
Sunday 1 August 2027
We’re also keen to hear your feedback. One of the main pieces of feedback we’ve received so far is around making the categories fairer.
Have an idea for a category? Would like to volunteer for next year? Interested in being a sponsor?
We’d love to hear from you!
Thanks again for a truly magic event!