ALT is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Art & Writing Contest! Two judging panels selected 18 winners from 341 entries submitted by local students, who were asked to draw or write about their favorite Aquidneck Island vista. The contest seeks to promote the importance and value of a healthy environment, and is sponsored by local design firm Sixteen on Center. The winning writing entries may be read here, and the winning art entries are shown in an album on our Facebook page (where there are also albums of every art entry, by grade category.)
Art entries were judged by a panel that included Norah Dietrich, Executive Director of the Newport Art Museum; Erik Greenburg, Director of Museums at the Newport Restoration Foundation; Susan Woythaler, artist and musician; and Jonathan Gewirz, ALT board member. Written entries were judged by Annie Sherman Luke, writer; Katherine Gagliano, principal, Amplify Marketing; and Jonathan Gewirz, ALT board member. The contest was underwritten by a grant from local design/build firm Sixteen on Center.
Art winners in the kindergarten through grade four category are Oscar Villanueva Rodriguez, first place (Pell Elementary School), Leila Costa, second place (Pell Elementary School), and Margaret Berkeley, third place (Aquidneck Elementary School). Winners in the grade five through grade eight category are Jada Unger, first place (Thompson Middle School), Willow Foregger, second place (Pennfield School), and Paola Budde, third place (Thompson Middle School). Winners in the grade nine through grade twelve category are Kamden Grant, first place (Rogers High School), Samantha Durham, second place (home-schooled), Ashley Desmarais, third place (Rogers High School) and Ashley Aquilar, honorable mention (Rogers High School).
Writing winners in the grade five through grade eight category are Eva Mermin, first place, (Pennfield School), Sophie Garman, second place, (St. Michael’s School), Dashiell Seals, third place, (St. Michael’s School), Thais Jackson, honorable mention (Pennfield School) and Isabel Swain, honorable mention (Pennfield School). Winners in the grade nine through grade twelve category are Pauline Cooper, first place, Patrick Bryan, second place, and Maeve Crowley, third place, all of Rogers High School.
Prizes will be awarded at the ALT Annual Meeting on February 6, 2020. The school of each first-place winner will receive a $500 grant to support their environmental science curriculum.