Congratulations to Our Two Texas Art & Literacy Contest Winners

The results are in, and we have two top-prize winners in our 2018 Texas Art & Literacy Contest for grades 6–8. Surprisingly, they both come from the same school!

Big congratulations go out to Katherine Y. and Marina O. from Canyon Vista Middle School of the Round Rock Independent School District. The two students were among 145 creative entries from all across the state. Both are in Ms. Kimberly Fritch’s Language Arts class; in honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week next week, Ms. Fritch deserves a major shout-out!

Each contest entrant created a black-and-white piece of art depicting their favorite literary hero or villain with the task of highlighting the character’s spirit, motivation, power, or passion through a medium of their choice, whether photography, digital imaging, a collage, a sketch, pen and ink, or a painting. Then, in a written format, also of their choice—letter, poem, or essay, without length restrictions—students told us why they selected their character.

Katherine chose to focus her submission on Louis Zamperini from the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, while Marina went with Offred from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. A team of national artists narrowed the entries to the top 25. Four local Austin artists then reviewed the artwork and written components, coming up with a tie for first place.   

The award ceremony was held at Canyon Vista Middle School at 1 p.m. on May 2, with school and district administrators, HMH representatives, the students’ parents, and their classmates in attendance. Both winners shared their art and explained why these characters inspired them. They received a $100 Visa card prize plus 100 novels for their school’s library.

View the winners’ artwork and read their submissions here.