JACKSON — Lauren Renn, an eighthgrade student at the Carl W. Goetz Middle School, and Karolina Sieczkowska, an eighth-grade student from the National Junior Arts Honor Society, were announced as the winners of the 2010-11 Annual Peace Poster local competition sponsored by the Jackson Lions Club.
Lauren’s and Karolina’s posters were among more than 200 entries submitted in the local competition. Each year, Lions clubs around the world sponsor the Lions International Peace Poster Contest in their communities to emphasize the importance of world peace to young people everywhere, and more than 350,000 entries are submitted.
The contest has an original theme each year incorporating peace, and this year’s theme was “Vision of Peace.”
The winning posters by Lauren and Karolina were selected by a team that included art teachers and a representative from the Jackson Lions Club. The winners were selected for their originality, artistic merit and portrayal of the contest theme.
Participants were able to use a variety of mediums, including charcoal, crayon, pencil and paint, to express the theme. The works created are unique and express the young artists’ life experiences and culture.
Jackson Lions Club President Robert Burlew said he was impressed by the expression and creativity of all the students at the Carl W. Goetz Middle School and the National Junior Arts Honor Society.
“It is inspiring to see that today’s young students have strong ideas about what peace means to them. I am so proud that we were able to provide them with the opportunity to share their visions through this local competition,” Burlew said.
This year the Jackson Lions Club sponsored two groups in the contest — the Carl W. Goetz Middle School and the National Junior Arts Honor Society. There were a record 207 entries between these two participating groups. The Jackson Lions Club presented the winners with savings bonds and certificates of achievement at an awards dinner in their honor.