June 02, 2023| Arts & Culture, Events, People
By: Caitlin Doran
The last four months at the Lake Hopatcong Foundation have been very special – and colorful! Each mail delivery brought us a new batch of “DIVE IN and get creative!” student art contest submissions. In the very beginning, it was a few at a time. Then, we started to receive parcels with 20 and 30 submissions from local schools. And by the end of the contest, we had received over 170 entries! One day, we received a carefully wrapped package that came all the way from Alabama. “We found the contest online, and my daughter loves to paint and draw,” said a proud mother. When I asked her if she would come all the way to New Jersey if her daughter won, she said, “I’d do anything for my daughter!” I told her we’d be happy to show her New Jersey’s largest lake.
Moments like this made me realize that our community extends far beyond the shores of our lake, and opportunities like our art contest are a way of engaging everyone in lake education and conservation. The submissions we received included beautiful landscapes, local wildlife, landmarks like the Main Lake Market, and activities like boating, fishing, and kayaking. They were made with pencil, colored pencil, crayon, and acrylics. Our art committee had a wonderful, if not sometimes very difficult, time judging all the beautiful entries, and we are proud to share the winning artists here:
“DIVE IN and get creative!” Student Art Contest Winners
Grades 1-2
1st Place – Jeremy G. (Grade 2)
2nd Place – Xander B. (Grade 2)
Grades 3-5
1st Place – Lindsey C. (Grade 4)
2nd Place – Akhil A. (Grade 4)
Grades 6-8
1st Place – Joshua G. (Grade 7)
2nd Place – Sophia B. (Grade 7)
Grades 9-12
1st Place – Ashley A. (Grade 12)
2nd Place – Sanjna V. (Grade 9)
We invite everyone to join us for our annual meeting on Thursday, June 8 at 6:30 p.m., when we will award our first-place winners with a cash prize of $100 and our second-place winners with a $25 Michael’s gift card. Local frame shop Helrick’s will also donate gift cards for each winner to have their artwork specially framed! At the meeting, we will have all art contest entries on display – either around the room or on screen, and we plan to leave the artwork on display through the end of the month (please visit us Mon-Fri from 10 am-4 pm).
Registration for our annual meeting is highly encouraged, as space is limited. Thank you to all the artists, participating schools, our art contest committee, judges, and to our sponsors Ice Factory, Station Hardware, and Novartis!
