Texas State-Fish Art Contest Winners Announced

Larry Hodge, 903-676-2277, larry.hodge@tpwd.texas.gov

News Image Share on Facebook Share Release URL

Note: This item is more than 15 years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.

ATHENS, Texas — Winners of the Texas division of the Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest were announced today by officials at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

The annual contest, open to any Texas student in grades 4 through 12, requires students to draw a picture and write an essay about any officially recognized state fish.

The 2008 Texas winners for grades 4-6­ are: First Place, Rama Imad, 5th grade, Falcon Pass Elementary School, Houston; Second Place, Dominic Nedzelskyi, 4th grade, home-schooled, Keller; and Third Place, August McBride, 6th grade, New Diana Middle School, Diana.

Winners in grades 7-9 are: First Place, Madeline Aguilar, 9th grade, Wylie East High School, Wylie; Second Place, Bonnie Leung, 8th grade, Lake Travis Middle School, Austin; and Third Place, Trent Kelley, 9th grade, Quitman High School, Quitman.

In grades 10-12 the winners are: First Place, Kevin Hopper, 12th grade, Athens High School, Athens; Second Place, Cali Stewart, 11th grade, home-schooled, Fort Worth; and Third Place, Kaitlin Andress, 12th grade, Athens High School, Athens.

The first-place winner in the grades 10-12 division will receive $1,000 toward his college fund. Second place will receive $750 and third place $500.

In the other two divisions, first-place winners will receive $100 savings bonds. Second-place winners will receive $75 bonds and third-place winners $50 bonds.

All three first-place winners will also receive financial assistance for travel and lodging to attend the national competition at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in July.

Prizes and travel are provided courtesy of the Toyota Texas Bass Classic. Each entrant in the Texas contest also received a free fishing lure from Strike King Lure Company.

Judges for the contest were Richard M. Hart, Dallas; David J. Sams, Dallas; Earl Nottingham, Temple; Ronald J. Gard, Dallas; and Ben Barrera, Mabank.

Honorable Mentions in the contest went to: Hunter Patterson, 6th grade, New Diana Middle School, Diana; Mary Campbell, 6th grade, home-schooled, Fort Worth; Keisha St. John, 5th grade, Bridgeport Intermediate School, Bridgeport; Thomas Hardy, 5th grade, Valley View I.S.D., Valley View; Amber Taylor, 6th grade, home-schooled, Arp; Cristiana McMullen, 6th grade, Price T. Young Middle School, Marshall; and Doss Summers, 6th grade, Hanna Springs Intermediate School, Lampasas.

Also, Piercen Lawrence, 9th grade, Highland Park High School, Dallas; Mariah Gorom, 7th grade, Little Cypress Jr. High, Orange; Stanislav Nedzelskyi, 7th grade, home-schooled, Keller; Craig Smith, 8th grade, New Diana Middle School, Diana; Jose Cardenas, 8th grade, Sam Tasby Middle School, Dallas; Allison Haynes, 8th grade, Little Cypress Jr. High, Orange; and Molly Atkins, 7th grade, Aledo Middle School, Aledo.

Also, Diana Antohe, 10th grade, Highland Park High School, Dallas; Alfredo Mendez, 12th grade, Athens High School, Athens; Sophia Sharpe, 12th grade, John Paul Stevens High School, San Antonio; Tiffanie Forbus, 12th grade, Stephenville High School, Stephenville; Jacob Robinson, 11th grade, Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville; Ana Banuelos, 12th grade, Athens High School, Athens; and Tiffany Petersen, 11th grade, Athens High School, Athens.

To enter the contest, students create an illustration of an officially recognized state fish and write a composition about its behavior, habitat and efforts to conserve it. The Texas state fish is the Guadalupe bass, but contestants may depict any official state fish of their choice. Entries are due at TFFC March 31 of each year; for contest details visit the TFFC web site.

Wildlife Forever is a non-profit multi-species conservation organization dedicated to conserving America’s wildlife heritage. Wildlife Forever has funded conservation projects in all 50 states. It supports habitat restoration and enhancement, land acquisition, research and management of fish and wildlife populations.

———
On the Net: