NOTED Newcastle artist Gillian Bencke is $10,000 richer after taking out the 2021 biennial Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award (WCTA) on the weekend.

National Gallery of Victoria curator of Indigenous art, Hannah Presley, who judged the award, said Ms Bencke’s entry hit every criteria she and Wangaratta Art Gallery director Simone Nolan were looking for.

“It has impact, it is technically skilled, it reflects past issues that fill our modern consciousness at the moment,” Ms Presley told those assembled at the gallery on Saturday afterno...