Connor Dewhurst ARIA nominee for 'Best Cover Art' for Brad Cox 'Acres' album

Connor Dewhurst, a born and bred Tamworthian, is officially in the running for his first ARIA Award after he was nominated for 'Best Cover Art' for his work on Australian country music singer Brad Cox's 'Acres' album.

The 24-year-old completed his schooling at Calrossy Anglican School, and worked at Allsopp Signs as a sign writer before he started dabbling in graphic design.

In 2020, at the very start of the pandemic, Mr Dewhurst told the Leader he decided to take a gamble and leave Tamworth to move to Newcastle and kick start his own career in the music industry.

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"I've always been a massive music fan, and then I was also a massive design fan, so I kind of put two and two together," he said.

Mr Dewhurst launched a fresh Instagram page, let his creative juices flow, and started reaching out to music managers to try and get his foot in the door.

One of the first he reached out to was the manager for Brad Cox, little did he know, what that message would bring.

"It's kind of a crazy thing to fast forward all these years and get the ARIA nomination doing Brad's artwork," Mr Dewhurst said.

But the nomination was something the 24-year-old manifested when Cox reached out for a design for his album cover.

"I was trying to think long term, it's kind of funny, I was like 'what's going to be an ARIA nominated cover art?'" Mr Dewhurst said.

"I like to look at it at all angles and see how I can put my fingerprint on it."

After "living in the album" for a few days, visualising his own thoughts and feelings about the music, and picking apart each lyric and beat, the 24-year-old sent Cox his grand plan for the cover.

Mr Dewhurst said with most artists your first idea is very rarely what ends up being the final product, but with Cox it was completely different.

"He's always one of the artists who trust the vision," he said.

The vision, which Mr Dewhurst called a "crazy idea", was to bop around hobby shops to gather bits and pieces to build the model which is featured on the cover.

"Everything I try and do is very hand made," he said.

"I like to look at it at all angles and see how I can put my fingerprint on it."

The 24-year-old has also worked with international artists like Nirvana, U2, Paul McCartney, and The Rolling Stones.

And closer to home, he's done design work for Amy Shark, Spacey Jane, Gang of Youths, and Jessica Mauboy.

But despite rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the music industry, being nominated for an ARIA Award was one of the outstanding items on his career bucket list.

"I've watched the ARIA's pretty much every year since I was a kid, and I always get really excited by it," Mr Dewhurst said.

"I was watching the stream live and they said my name first up.

"It was really surreal ... really emotional."

Mr Dewhurst said the announcement felt like all his hard work had fallen into place.

"It made me be kind of solidified in my purpose, in what I set out to do from the get go," he said.

The winners of the ARIA Awards for 2023 are set to be announced on November 15, at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney.

Mr Dewhurst, who will be flanked by family members on the night, said although he is feeling the nerves and definitely has a competitive streak, he already felt like a winner.

"I really couldn't care less if I win, the whole nomination feels like winning to me," he said.

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