Alamogordo Arts: 2 of 3 Congressional Districts Announce Youth 2021 Congressional Art Competition Winners

Congratulations to the New Mexico 2021 Congressional Art Competition Winners announced for 2 of the 3 Congressional Districts. We are eagerly awaiting the announcement of Congresswoman Yvette Herrell’s selected winners for her congressional district.

The winners for the other two New Mexico congressional districts have been announced by their respective congresswomen…

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández announced Wednesday the 2021 Congressional Art Competition winners for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District.

A number of Los Alamos High School (LAHS) students excelled in the competition. 

Elijah Phillips created this year’s winning entry.

Esperanza Chavarria won second place and several LAHS students garnered honorable mention.

Students from 19 schools across the district submitted 65 art pieces for this year’s virtual competition.

“New Mexico is no stranger to exceptional artists and it’s clear that the legacy lives on with these young creators,” Rep. Leger Fernández said. “Each piece we received blew the judges and myself away. I’m thankful for the work they put into them and for the art teachers across the district that continue to encourage and inspire their students.

“My deepest congratulations to our top award winners. Our first place winner, Elijah Phillips, created a stunning piece with just a simple pen and pencil. This fantastic piece of art makes New Mexico’s 3rd district proud and will hang in the Capitol for the next year.”

This year’s winners:

First Place: Elijah Phillips, Los Alamos High School;

Second Place: Esperanza Chavarria, Los Alamos High School; and

Third Place: Ayed Awad, The Academy for Technology and the Classics.

Melinda Modisette, a senior at Albuquerque Academy, won the 2021 Congressional Art Competition for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District.

Each spring, high school students across the country compete in the contest, and the winning artwork from each district is showcased in the Capitol building for a year.

Modisette, who is attending Harvard next year, named her piece “Coyote America” after a book of the same name, which she read as a class assignment.

“This book completely changed my perception of wild things and land in New Mexico,” she said in a statement. “And my English teacher, Dr. Casey Citrin, challenged me to create a project about it.”

Arwa Faruk, a senior at Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science, won second place for her work, “The Fruit Seller.” Savannah Emge, a sophomore at Del Norte High School, received third-place honors for her painting, “Seeing Colors.”

Faruk and Emge’s paintings will be displayed at the Flying Star Café on Menaul NE.

The competition, sponsored by the Congressional Institute, has been held each spring since 1982. High school students from across the country submit their work, which is judged by a panel of artists within each Congressional district. There were 41 students in the 1st Congressional District who submitted artwork to the contest.

We look forward to seeing the announcement from Yvette Herrells office coming soon as to the winner from this district to be displayed at the capital in support of youth in the arts.

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