MADISON – Several artists from James Clemens and Bob Jones high schools were honored in the 2018 State Superintendent’s Visual Arts Exhibit and associated competition.

The state superintendent sponsors the annual contest to recognize visual arts talent of students in grades 7-12 from across Alabama.

Claiming a top honor at the state competition, Sarah Kim from James Clemens High School won “Best of Show” for her work. Liz Vaughn is her art instructor at James Clemens.

From Bob Jones High School, Michael McGinley was first-place winner among the artists in Category I for Division 9-10. Robin Lakso teaches McGinley.

Other James Clemens students won awards. Elizabeth Koifman won third place in Category I of Division 7-8 in the competition. Judy Bagwell is Koifman’s teacher.

Hannah Einhorn received Honorable Mention for Category I in Division 11-12. Liz Vaughn is Einhorn’s instructor at James Clemens.

Contest organizers allowed Alabama public school systems to submit 15 pieces of artwork for the showcase that district officials selected from students’ portfolios. Entries from grades K-12 were accepted, but only the artwork by older students in higher grades was open for judging and entered into the exhibit in Montgomery.

The annual contest has generated more than 400 pieces of artwork for consideration in a given year.

The competition’s awards included Best of Show, along with first-, second- and third-place divisional winners for Category I (two-dimensional work) and Category II (photography or computer-generated work).

The award-winning students and their visual arts instructors were recognized at a celebratory luncheon following an Alabama State Board of Education meeting that they attended. Vaughn and Lakso accompanied their students to the awards luncheon at RSA Plaza Terrace in Montgomery on Feb. 8.

The State Department of Education and Alabama Arts License Tag Committee sponsored the awards luncheon.