The Victorian State Government is putting kids’ creativity front and centre – with free Prep Bags to be designed by the students that use them.
Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas has announced local Prep students can enter a new annual design competition for Prep Bags, starting this week.
Current Preps at Victorian public schools enter by submitting hand drawn or digitally designed artwork on this year’s theme ‘My Year of Prep’.
The winning design will feature on the front of next year’s Prep Bags.
Preps at local schools across Macedon are encouraged to put pencil to paper and enter.
The bags will be delivered to almost 52,000 Preps at over 1,300 schools on their first day of school.
Prep Bags deliver real cost-of-living relief for families and make the first day of prep extra special.
Since 2019, Labor’s Books in Prep Bags initiative has provided more than 2.2 million free books to Prep students and their families.
The initiative ensures no child misses out on high-quality books to kickstart their love of reading.
This year’s bags included five free books selected by a panel of experts, a jigsaw puzzle, colouring activities and resources to help families with the transition from kinder to school.
Preps also received a free holder for the Youth myki – making it even easier for families to access free public transport for kids under 18.
The competition runs from 16 July until 9 August 2026.
More information can be found at engage.vic.gov.au/prep–bags–2027.
This article is based on a media release from Mary-Anne Thomas.
