The Children’s Art Contest is an annual contest to help showcase the amazing talents of the youth in our community. This is the fourth year for the Children’s Art contest as a whole, but the first year that a middle school category was added. Many spectacular pieces were among 286 entries that were submitted from students in both private and public elementary and middle schools in the Festival’s largest Children’s Art Contest to date. The artwork will be displayed around the community, but most notably in the Community Artist exhibit at the Community Arts Center in the historic Hannah Block USO building during the Azalea Festival and throughout the month of April. In addition, the Thalian Association Children’s Theater (TACT), which is housed at the Community Arts Center, will give each winning artist a complimentary ticket to its show, Totally 80’s, which will open on April 5th. This year, Margaret Dill and Maddie Porter, both students at Cape Fear Academy in Wilmington, North Carolina, took the top honors in the elementary and middle school divisions, respectively.
Margaret Dill, a 5th grader, finds drawing, painting, and working with clay fun and relaxing. Margaret takes weekly art lessons to unwind and to learn new artistic techniques. It was in these art lessons that Margaret perfected her Azalea Festival Art Contest masterpiece over a two month period – a true labor of her love of all things art. Her canvas painting of a Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Belle stationed in a beautiful blooming garden was selected from 155 entries submitted from six public and private elementary schools. When not drawing or painting, Margaret enjoys riding her horse Templeton. She is very excited to meet the Governor and to ride in the Azalea Festival Parade.
Maddie Porter is a 7th grader, whose family is an Azalea Festival family through and through. Each year, her family goes together on the Garden Tour and to the circus, and she says when she thinks of the Azalea Festival, she, too, thinks of the Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Belles. Thus, the inspiration for her award winning entry, a montage of her favorite Azalea Festival memories, creatively brought to paper in bright vivid colors which was selected from 131 entries from six public and private middle schools. Maddie says her favorite subject in school is science, and she especially likes studying plants. In her free time, she plays on her computer and participates in the Girl Scouts. Her troop is well-known for selling Girl Scout cookies in crazy cookie costumes. She is looking forward to meeting the Governor and going to the Avett Brothers concert.
The 1st place finishers will present their artwork to Governor Pat McCrory at the annual Azalea Festival Governor’s Press Conference, which will be held just prior to the Festival. The Top 3 finishers will receive prize packages that include gift certificates from Learning Express Toys and New Balance, circus tickets, and an autographed copy of the official Azalea Festival art, created by local artist Elizabeth Singletary.
The Top 16 winners from each division were announced at a special ceremony at Cape Fear Academy in February and received bragging rights along with Azalea Festival souvenirs. As an added bonus, Cape Fear Center for Inquiry, the elementary school that submitted the highest number of entries, was treated to a Rita’s Italian Ice celebration at their school. Noble Middle School and Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences tied for the highest number of middle school entries submitted and earned an Artist-in-Residence workshop with Azalea Festival artist Elizabeth Singletary.
Stop by the HBHUSO/CAC, located at 2nd and Orange Streets, and revel in the talent of our area’s young artists.
THANK YOU to all student who participate in this’s year contest, and, most importantly, to all who encourage our children to get involved in their community and to explore the Arts!
2013 Children’s Art Contest Winners: Middle School
1st place Maddie Porter, Cape Fear Academy, 7th grade
2nd place Logan Francisco, Roland-Grise, 6th grade
3rd place Sylvia Atwood, Cape Fear Acamdemy, 7th grade
Honorable Mention: Isabella Bailey, MCS Noble, 8th grade
2013 Children’s Art Contest Winners: Elementary School
1st Place Margaret Dill, Cape Fear Academy, 5th grade
2nd Place Eryn Shanks, Cape Fear Center for Inquiry, 5th grade
3rd Place JC Robertson, Parsley, 5th grade
Honorable Mention: Lindsay West, Cape Fear Academy, 5th grade
Past Winners:
2012: Cameron Holmes, Bellamy Elementary
2011: Lemir Moore, Snipes Academy of Art and Design
2010: Katie Girolami, Cape Fear Academy
Thank you to our Partners of the Children’s Art Contest:
Rita’s Italian Ice
Thalian Association Children’s Theater (TACT)
New Balance Wilmington
Hannah Block Historic USO/ Community Arts Center
All Ways Graphics
The Learning Express Toy Store
Gallery
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