NEA National Kids' Art Contest

Winners Named

Thank you to the over 1,000 students and teachers who submitted artwork to the NEA National Kids' Art Contest. We received wonderful pieces that illustrated one of three themes: My Favorite Teacher, What's Cool About School, and School of the Future.

Congratulations to our winners!

Best of Show

Grand Prize ($1500 each to artist, teacher, school)
Jessie Z, age 7
"School of the Future"
Pen and ink & watercolor
Teacher: Heather Aldama, 2nd grade
Dilworth Elementary School
San Jose, CA

First and Second Places

K-3  1st Place ($150 prize)
Jorsely R, age 5
"Recess Is Cool"
Watercolor & crayon
Charles H. Kim Elementary School
Teacher: Dan Suh, kindergarten
Los Angeles, CA

K-3  2nd Place  ($100 prize)
Samantha S, age 8
"My Favorite Teacher"
Pen and ink & watercolor
Teacher: Nancy Arnot, art
Hope Township School
Hope, NJ

Grades 4-6  1st Place ($150 prize)
Sonnie K, age 10
"What's Cool About School"
Mixed media
Teacher: Ruth S. Gainer, art
Whetstone  Elementary School
Gaithersburg, MD

Grades 4-6  2nd Place ($100 prize)
Justin K, age 11
"School of the Future"
Pen and ink & watercolor
Teacher: Michelle Takenishi, 5th grade
Kahala Elementary School
Honolulu, HI

Grades 7-9  1st Place ($150 prize)
Jared C, age 15
"Music Within Us"
Oil on canvas
Teacher: Darryl Gates, English, language arts
Youree Drive Middle School
Shreveport, LA

Grades 7-9  2nd Place ($100 prize)
Gabriel G, age 13
"What's Cool About School"
Colored pencil & crayon
Teacher: Kimberly Robinson, visual arts
Richards Middle School
Lawrenceville, GA

Grades 10-12  1st Place ($150 prize)
Oleksandra B., age 16
"Barnsie"
Pastel
Teacher: Barbara Barnes, art majors and ceramics
Matawan Regional High School
Aberdeen, NJ

Grades 10-12  2nd Place ($100 prize)
Alison F, age 17
"School of the Future Due to Lack of Appropriate Funding"
Mixed media
Teacher: Kim Williams, advanced visual arts
Culpeper County High School
Culpeper, VA

Judges

A special thank you goes to the judges: Francis Chase, K-5 art teacher, Arlington, Virginia, Laura Dickey, middle school art teacher, Alexandria, Virginia; Elizabeth Dunlap, high school art teacher, Sykesville, Maryland; Michael Marks, NEA Executive Committee and fine arts teacher, and Vanessa Nugent, NEA art director.

What the Judges Looked For

For the K-3 art, judges looked for innocence in the work, an emotional connection with it, as well as color, line, and basic composition, and asked, "Does it make you smile?" In the pieces for grades 4-6, they looked for advanced use of color, taking care with the art, playing with ideas, thinking outside the box, and execution.

In the artwork for grades 7-9, judges looked first for images that dealt with the themes and then how the students expressed themselves in the work and made use of space. For grades 10-12, they looked for pieces that were purposeful (students had a goal for the artwork), showed control of strokes and values, and showed that the student took chances.

For Best of Show, judges looked for "that piece of art that just grabs you." Judges said of the Jessie Z's "School of the Future": Look out that window she's drawn. She's doing advanced 3-D on a flat surface, that many high school students have trouble with. She should go to work for Hallmark—now.

See Artwork of the Winners and Honorable Mentions.