Self-taught artist Carla Benzie won the People's Choice award at Townsville's Percivals competition

Ms Benzie's work, Lighting Up Change, features former Navy diver Paul de Gelder who lost two limbs to a bull shark in 2009 while participating in a counter-terror exercise in Sydney Harbour.

Since then Mr de Gelder has become an advocate for shark conservation, and this drew the artist's attention.

"The reason he inspired me to draw is because he got attacked by a shark," Ms Benzie said.

"Since then he's spent his whole life protecting them and I just wanted something that could really draw people in and look at the artwork."

After having Mr de Gelder's story recounted to her by a friend in the Royal Australian Air Force, Ms Benzie reached out and was able to meet her muse.

The artwork, produced using a combination of watercolours and pencil took around 300 hours to complete, and Ms Benzie said the name she chose had a poignant meaning.

"He [Mr de Gelder] brings to light the secrets of shark culling," she said.

"Every hour 11,000 sharks are killed by fisheries around the world and there are only about 10 people in a year that get eaten by a shark.

"We're pretty much cleaning out the ocean, and he's pretty much bringing to light that sharks aren't these big terrible things that movies like Jaws portray them to be.

"They're actually very important to the ecosystem to be sustainable."

Research from 2013 suggests between 63 and 273 million sharks were caught and killed per year, or between 6.4 per cent to 7.9 per cent of the global population.

Ms Benzie said she had been an artist "for as long as she could remember", and said entering local art shows like the annual event hosted by Quota Jimboomba was key for budding artists hoping to succeed.

"The Jimboomba Quota Art Show is one of my favourite art shows to enter," she said.

"If it wasn't for the local support and the local artists that encourage me and other people like me to keep entering art prizes I probably wouldn't have entered this one.

"Shout out to the Quota Jimboomba ladies for helping artists locally. They're great."

The Stockleigh artist said she would "100 per cent" enter this year's Quota Jimboomba Art Show if she has new work ready by the September 24 deadline.

In the meantime, Ms Benzie said she was planning a new series of work based on a recent trip to North Queensland as well as giving her website an overhaul.

"I'm planning a new series of artwork at the moment," she said.

"I started that on the boat I was on for four days, so hopefully I can do some more marine-related work and highlight some more awesome stories.

"For now though it's a big secret."

Ms Benzie also said she was grateful her work was selected as the People's Choice at The Percivals, as it showed her work had broad appeal.

"I'm very grateful to have won the People's Choice," she said.

"When you enter art prizes the judging is always very interesting. Seeing what judges pick as winners, sometimes it's disheartening considering there's so many other fantastic artists out there. Because it's art, it can be anything.

"But when people vote, and you win the People's Choice, you know you've done something right to grab their attention."