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Latta Announces 2023 Congressional Art Competition Winners

98 students from 27 high schools participated in this year’s Congressional Art Competition

BOWLING GREEN, OH – Today, Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH5) announced Gillian Thomas, a senior at Elyria High School, as the winner of Ohio’s Fifth District 2023 Congressional Art Competition.

Thomas’ winning artwork, entitled Brain Worms, will be displayed at the U.S. Capitol Building for one year. Three honorable mention winners will have their artwork displayed in one of Latta’s congressional offices for the year.

This year, there were 98 high school students from 27 high schools who participated in the competition. Latta hosted a reception at Owens Community College – Findlay Campus on Saturday, May 20, to honor all participants and to showcase each individual work of art. 


Brain Worms, by Gillian Thomas of Elyria High School

“This year’s competition brought a tremendous number of submissions, with 98 students participating from across Ohio’s Fifth District,” Latta said. “A big congratulations goes out to Gillian Thomas for taking the top prize this year. It was wonderful to see the creativity our students displayed through each individual piece, and I want to thank everyone who attended the Congressional Art Competition reception this past weekend to celebrate these talented students and their artwork. I’d also like to thank our tremendous judges for helping select our winners and to Owens Community College for providing a wonderful location for the students’ artwork to be displayed.”

The following students received Honorable Mention awards for their artwork:

  • Lucille Nomaguchi-Long of Bowling Green High School, Louisiana Blue
  • Aiden Bokulich of Firelands High School, Snow Day


  • Sarah Lisanti of Arlington High School, Zero Sugar Cherry 7UP


The top prize winners were selected by Valerie Escobedo, Associate Professor of Art at the University of Findlay, and Heather Sensel, Education Manager at the Mazza Museum at the University of Findlay.  

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school art competition to recognize the artistic talents of the nation’s youth. The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982 and has had more than 650,000 high school students participate in the competition.

 

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