Student wins prize in ARTEFFECT contest

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) announced the nine winners of the 8th annual ARTEFFECT competition.

The international competition challenges students to creatively interpret the stories of Unsung Heroes through original works of art accompanied by artist impact statements.

LMC awarded the $6,000 Grand Prize to Celine Fong, an 11th-grader at Rye Country Day School in Rye, N.Y.

Two students received $500 Certificate of Excellence prizes in the high school division.

Eleventh-grader Emily Dalcamo of Sparta High School celebrated Unsung Hero Virginia Apgar in her digital work “The Apgar Score.” Apgar was an obstetrical anesthesiologist and the inventor of the A.P.G.A.R. score, which determines a baby’s health one and five minutes after birth.

“I would love my artwork to touch lives just like Ms. Virginia Apgar’s invention has and still does to this day,” she wrote in her impact statement. “My Unsung Hero Ms. Virginia Apgar was passionate about saving lives just like I am passionate about art.”

Emily Hammill, a 12th-grader at Olympia High School in Olympia, Wash., received a certificate for her ceramic sculpture “Voice of the People,” which honors Unsung Hero John Avery Lomax. Lomax was an American musicologist who documented and preserved American folk traditions and songs such as “Home on the Range.”

More than $10,000 in cash prizes was awarded to the eight other winning students across the high school and middle school divisions.

“The works of art submitted by our ARTEFFECT winners show their visionary thinking and the superior nature of their creative skills,” said LMC chief executive Norm Conard. “Our team at the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes lauds the vivid imagination of these student champions and the excellence of their work.”

Toni Guglielmo, director of ARTEFFECT, said, “This is a unique competition where students are encouraged to explore the Unsung Heroes as role models as well as discover the relevance of their own art-making.

“While learning about these individuals from across history, students also discover the impact of sharing these stories with their communities through their artworks.”

Grand Prize winner Fong’s oil painting “A Beacon of Hope” depicts the story of Unsung Hero Abdol Hossein Sardari, an Iranian diplomat who saved thousands during World War II by secretly issuing passports in Nazi-occupied France. He was also the sole Iranian diplomat who remained in Paris during the occupation, where he convinced the Germans to exempt Jugutis - a term for the descendants of Persian Jews who continued to practice Judaism - from Nazi anti-Jewish measures.

“As a 21st-century student and artist, I believe in the deep investigation of personal narratives to gain insight about change-making role models and engage with powerful stories that can refocus our evolving world,” Fong wrote in her impact statement. “In reaffirming the unacknowledged heroes from the past, we have the power to amplify their contributions, preserve their memories, and better comprehend our collective history to engender a well-informed future.”

In addition to taking home cash prizes, winners have their artworks and excerpts from their impact statements showcased on LMC’s website, listed with their sponsoring teacher.

Additionally, the award-winning artworks are displayed in LMC’s Hall of Unsung Heroes in Fort Scott, Kan., a museum and research center visited by thousands annually from across the globe.

The $3,000 High School Best in Show prize was awarded to 12th-grader Breanna Zaborowski, who recently graduated from Hartland High School in the Detroit suburb of Hartland, Mich.

Winning the $2,000 High School Second Place prize was Amelia Ghannam, an 11th-grader at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, N.J. Her entry, “Hiawatha, Uniter of the Iroquois,” is a chalk pastel drawing that honors Hiawatha. An Onondaga chief and skilled orator, Hiawatha helped unite the five nations of the Onondaga, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca into the Iroquois Confederacy.

The recipient of the $2,000 Middle School Best in Show prize was eighth-grader Jennet Koroglu from LaVilla School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Fla.

From Jericho, N.Y., Jericho Middle School eighth-grader Chloe Hu won the $1,000 Middle School Second Place prize.

New this year, LMC designated a $1,000 Spotlight Prize for entries celebrating Unsung Heroes previously underrepresented in the ARTEFFECT competition. This award went to Nora Morrow, an eighth-grader at LaVilla School of the Arts.

Eighth-grader Emily Leonard from LaVilla School of the Arts received a $250 Certificate of Excellence in the middle school division.

Submissions for the next ARTEFFECT competition will open in November.