East Coweta High School senior Avery Vigh was named Best in Show at the Kiwanis Club of Coweta County’s annual art show.
Vigh’s piece “Distinguished Gentleman,” and winning work of other Coweta middle and high school students, was honored at a reception and awards ceremony on Sunday, March 17, at the Nixon Center for Performing Arts. The students’ work will remain on display until Friday, March 22. Afterwards, the first-place work will be moved to the Carnegie Library for display until April 26.
Each year, the Kiwanis Club of Coweta County sponsors the show, which showcases artwork from Coweta students in grades six-12. Cash prizes are awarded to the winner of Best in Show, as well as to first ($75), second ($50) and third ($25) place winners from each grade level.
The grade-level winners include:
First Place – Lillian Cantrell, Lee Middle
Second Place – James Lin, Arnall Middle
Third Place – Sister Brady, Evans Middle
First Place – Jack McCloud, Trinity Christian
Second Place – Alexandria Wolters, East Coweta Middle
Third Place – Anderson Schuler, Trinity Christian
First Place – Isabelle Chammami, Bass Middle
Second Place – Eileen Kim, Arnall Middle
Third Place – Alison Joyce, Bass Middle
First Place – Nataly Ferrera Garcia, Northgate High
Second Place – Kara Lasiter, East Coweta High
Third Place – Rio Hagen-Touart, East Coweta High
First Place – Brianna Blumer, East Coweta High
Second Place – Lillian McGuire, East Coweta High
Third Place – Maddie Jane Poling, Trinity Christian
First Place – Maddie Diestler, East Coweta High
Second Place – Allie Buzzard, Newnan High School
Third Place – Preston Burnham, Newnan High School
First Place – Kelsey Ling, East Coweta High
Second Place – Emma Manning, Newnan High
Third Place – Wren Gray, Newnan High
Arnall Middle – Vinny Nechay, eighth grade
Madras Middle – Shelby Clemons, sixth grade
Lee Middle – Treya Perez, seventh grade
East Coweta High – Josh Little, 12th grade
Newnan High – Holly Lewis, ninth grade
Northgate High – Adalynn Jordan, 10th grade
Trinity Christian – Kyra Hill, 11th grade
All eight winners – first place in each grade level and Best in Show – will move on to the state competition, which will be held in Macon on Saturday, April 27, to compete for $7,500 in scholarships.
This year was the 18th annual Coweta show, which originally began at the suggestion of a
local artist who was looking for scholarship opportunities for her daughter. The 2020 show was cut short because of COVID-19 and was not able to be held at all in 2021, again because of COVID-19.
The KCCC does not allow any type of identification on the artwork before judging takes place. Each year, the pieces are evaluated by a different artist who volunteers his or her time to judge the contest. This year, acclaimed artist Martin Pate of Newnan judged the show.
Penny Williams and Valorie Stitt were this year’s art show chairs, and White Oak Golden K Kiwanis members helped hang the artwork and made a financial contribution toward the prizes. Lee was awarded the prizes at the reception, which was attended by the artists, their families and friends, art teachers, and Kiwanians.
