Young authors and artists in grades K-12 will be celebrated as the winners of the Tucson Festival of Books Young Artist, Young Author Competition.
Students submitted original stories and poems, and original southwestern-style artwork.
The winning submissions will be compiled in a book awarded to both the art and writing honorees.
The young artist winners will also receive a $100 Sarnoff card for art supplies and a poster of their art. They are:
- Grades kindergarten through second: Aubrey Evans, Penelope Holland, Emery Maland and Marina Zhao
- Grades third through fifth: Josephine Burnside, Ellen Kim, Isabella Marti, Beanna Ornelas, Charlette Parent, Alexandros Tokkaris, Mia Trinh and Alva Zhao
- Grades sixth through eighth: Ava Carbajal, Riley Egan, Anna Feltheim, Emma Kim, Serena Rezende Tsao, Jillian Stachowski, Sebastian Tokkaris and Annabelle Yeh
- High school: Sydney Kim, Brett Lewis, Sophia Paz and Lauren Emily Vaz
The writing winners are:
- Agua Caliente Elementary first grader Nate Camp
- Basis Oro Valley second grader Varni Modi, sixth grader Ranjit Nair, and seventh grader Aditya Sunder
- Hermosa Montessori Charter second grader Audrey Paradise and fourth grader Noah McGill
- Manzo Elementary fourth grader Aubreyoni Ayala
- White Elementary fifth graders Makayla Castanon and Roger Godinez
- Khalsa Montessori sixth graders Sophia Venning and Zorya June Vinal
- Emily Gray Junior High seventh grader Lindsay Gaines, and eighth graders Daria Muratalieva and Kailey Reichardt
- Desert View High sophomores Elizabeth Michalski and Don E. Montano, and senior Gisela Lopez-Avila
The recognition will be held at the festival main stage at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 14.
Friends of Western Art managed the artist competition and Altrusa handled the writing portion.
