As the weather cools, holiday art contests heat up

Holiday card competitions are wrapping up and the Boise School District is the latest to announce its winning entry.

A fifth-grade student at Boise’s Riverside Elementary School is the winter card contest winner this year. Artist Sophie Hill beat out more than 1,200 other students vying to get their art on the cover of a holiday card.

Puppy eyes stare out from the winning entry, warm and inviting from the face of an adorable golden floof.

Perhaps the only way this puppy could be any cuter: It’s wearing a Santa hat and tilting it’s head ever so slightly, just begging for a little pat on the head.

Yultide children’s gifts surround the canine focal point of the piece. To the left, is a bag of miniature animals and dolls. To the right, a classic nutcracker statue almost as tall as the dog and a stuffed teddy-bear wearing a little bow-tie.

Holiday themed ornaments hang from an invisible ceiling above, displaying little boughs of holly, a snowman head with earmuffs and what looks to be a reindeer practicing the splits.

Ombre shading of blue and pink pops out from behind the festive decorations, lending a playful background in contrast to the season’s more typical red-and-green color scheme.

Lily Wayment, of American Heritage Charter, joins Hill as a holiday-card winner this week. On Monday, the Idaho State Department of Education announced that Wayment bested 700 other students to get her drawing on the department’s 2019 holiday cards.

Idaho students in upper grades have the chance to participate in yet another art contest during their holiday break. The SDE’s annual “Picture My Future” contest asks artists in grades 7 through 12 to “envision their future after high school” by creating artwork to answer the question: What does college or career ready mean to me?” The winning art will  be displayed on the State Department of Education website and in print.

Drawings, paintings, digital media and other art forms will all be accepted for the competition. The entries should be in 8.5″ x 11″ portrait format, and should not include copyright images.

Artwork needs to have the student’s name, teachers name, grade and the school that the student attends. The original art won’t be returned, the department said in a news release.

Young artists can submit their art as a PDF through the State Department’s  Picture-my-future art contest webpage. Electronic submissions are due by midnight, Jan. 17. 2020.

Submissions sent through the mail need to be postmarked by Tuesday, Jan. 14. Mail the artwork to:

Idaho State Department of Education

Attn: Karli Bennett

P.O. Box 83720

Boise, ID 83720-0027

Sami Edge

Sami Edge

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