Spring Boot (version 3.0.2) - Validation not working - spring-boot

Question

I am using #NotBlank and #Size in the command object.
Partial code below:
enter mport javax.validation.constraints.NotBlank;
import javax.validation.constraints.Size;
public class WatchlistItem {
#NotBlank(message="You cannot leave it empty")
private String title;
private String rating;
#NotBlank(message = "cannot leave blank")
private String priority;
#Size(max = 50, message = "The maximum characters are 50")
private String comment;
Part of the controller class:
#PostMapping("/watchlistItemForm")
public ModelAndView submitWatchlistItemForm(#Valid WatchlistItem watchlistItem,
BindingResult bindingResult ){
if (bindingResult.hasErrors()){
return new ModelAndView ("watchlistItemForm");
}
WatchlistItem updateItem = getWatchListItemById(watchlistItem.getId());
And the pom file:
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<parent>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
<version>3.0.2</version>
<relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
</parent>
<groupId>com.openclassrooms</groupId>
<artifactId>watchlist23</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>watchlist23</name>
<description>Demo project for Spring Boot</description>
<properties>
<java.version>17</java.version>
</properties>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
<artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
<version>5.7.2</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
<artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
<version>2.0.1.Final</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId>
<version>3.0.2</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
But when I run the application, I can leave the title field blank and still works, whereas it should stop and ask me to enter the title.
Please advice.