Horsepower Highway finalist in three categories for Australian Street Art Awards

One of the Great Southern’s newest tourist attractions has again scored itself recognition, this time on a national scale.

The Horsepower Highway, which runs from just south of Broomehill to the Stirling Range National Park, has dominated the nominations for the 2021 Australian Street Art Awards.

The Highway is a finalist in three categories: best sculpture park or trail, best rural art and best street trail.

Horsepower Highway project manager Cassandra Beeck said the trio of nominations was “absolutely amazing”.

“What it does is validate what the community has done and how the project has brought life and vitality into our town,” she said.

“What we thought was a tiny thing is actually something bigger. It is absolutely outstanding.”

The highway was the only project in the Australian Street Art Awards to score nominations in three categories.

Ms Beeck said there was still plenty of room for growth.

“We really see ourselves as a link between Katanning and all of the history there down through to the Stirlings and Porongurups in the south,” she said.

“We are working with local community groups to help them put their mark on the highway, and we are also encouraging people to use our interactive map while travelling along the highway.”

If the Horsepower Highway wins one of their three categories, it will be the second major award win in recent months, with the highway winning the WA Community Action and Wellbeing category at the Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Awards in November.

The highway opened on April 13 last year, after 20 tractor displays were installed on the Broomehill-Gnowangerup Road and Formby Road South.

The winners of the Australian Street Art Awards will be announced in an online ceremony on March 4.