Faith Daan, a ninth-grade student at Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts (CCA), was named the national winner for the high school category of the 2021 ESS Art Contest for her entry, Young Chaos. There were 850 contestants from across the country.
This year's theme was "What would it be like to go to school for superheroes?" and the artwork was categorized into four groups by grade (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12). A panel of ESS judges scored each submission based on the following criteria:
- Artistic skills
- Creativity and originality
- Relation to contest theme
- A unique and novel approach to the artwork
- Technical skill by grade level
- Adherence to the contest rules and requirements
Daan received $500 as part of her award and CCA also received $500.
"The Visual Arts Department is very proud of Faith Daan's artistic accomplishments this year,” said Justin Black, an art teacher at CCA. “Faith has been a role model of excellence for her peers during this tumultuous year, and this national recognition speaks to her unwavering pursuit of authentic expression and creative risk-taking.”
ESS values art, and they strive to reaffirm the arts as an important component of a student’s learning experience.
“Each year, we look forward to our art contest and giving young artists well-deserved recognition for their talents,” said Elizabeth Newby, on-site manager for ESS at Hamilton County Schools. “We are always blown away by the artistic skill and creativity from their submissions, and this year was no exception.”
More work by Daan can be found at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center and as part of EPB's ArtSpark program.
Click here for more information on the 2021 ESS Art Contest.