Blend the soaring imaginations and passions of almost 2,800 student artists from around Indiana with monthly calendar themes and what do you get? The 13th annual Student Art Contest and subsequent publication, Cooperative Calendar of Student Art, is what.
The wall calendar, made available by participating electric cooperatives around the state and Electric Consumer in early autumn, will once again be illustrated by the 13 winning works from each grade, kindergarten through high school senior.
The artwork follows a natural progression through the calendar, starting with first grade art illustrating January, second grade February and so on through the 12 grades and 12 months. The kindergarten-winning entry will appear on the cover. Nine additional works were selected as honorable mentions and will appear in the back of the calendar.
Among this year’s cash-prize winning group are six previous winners and the youngest “Artist of the Year” in the contest’s history.
Heidi Ziebarth, a fifth grader at Harrison Elementary in Warsaw, earned the top honor with a mosaic of a parakeet for May.
Other winners of note: Last year’s “Artist of the Year,” Mikala Greenlee, returns as the ninth grade winner. Right in front of her from last year’s calendar, Amy He returns this year as the eighth grade winner. Amy is instructed in art by C.J. Fang of West Lafayette. Fang’s students also won the second grade division and an honorable mention. That honorable mention winner is Sophie Chang who won an honorable mention last year and her grade division as a first grader in 2009.
Meanwhile, Amanda Whaling, who won her grade division as a sixth and seventh grader in 2007 and 2008’s calendars, returns to the calendar as the 10th grade winner. Sarah Herbert, who won an honorable mention as an eighth grader in 2007, won the 12th grade division.
Grace Overdorf, who won an honorable mention as kindergartner is 2008, won the third grade division. She is part of a family of multiple past winners that includes two sisters and a brother.
Also along the sibling front, Amanda Whaling’s little brother, Evan, won the fourth grade division, and Rebekah Brenneman, a sophomore at Whitko High School, won an honorable mention. She follows in the calendar footprints of her sisters Hannah and Esther. Students from Whitko, including another honorable mention winner this year, Amanda Schultz, have appeared in the calendar every year since Hannah Brenneman won an honorable mention way back in 2001.
Cash prizes this year were: $200 for all grade division winners; and $50 for honorable mention winners. The “Artist of the Year” earned an additional $100.
The calendar, which will also contain electric co-op information, will be available at participating REMCs/RECs around the state in early autumn.
And the winners are…
Nine additional artists win honorable mentions
In addition to the 13 first place winners pictured above, the works of nine additional students earned an honorable mention and will appear in a special section of the 2011 calendar.
Honorable Mention winners were:
Amanda Schultz, 12th grade, South Whitley, Ind;
Shayna Shelton, 11h grade, North Judson, Ind;
Rebekah Brenneman, 10th grade, South Whitley, Ind;
Liddia Crace, seventh grade, Roann, Ind;
Nicholas Hostler, seventh grade, Kendallville, Ind;
Rosie Burch, fifth grade, Fort Wayne, Ind;
Eric Trenkamp, fifth grade, Greensburg, Ind;
Sophie Chang, third grade, West Lafayette, Ind;
Elijah Batz, second grade, Williams, Ind.
Over 400 “Award of Merit” certificates will be distributed to other students whose work was accepted into the final round of judging in their respective grade divisions.
