Press Release

May 09, 2003

STUDENT'S ART WORK TO BE DISPLAYED AT U.S. CAPITOL

Eric Jackson, a ninth grade student at Albany High School, is the winner of the 2003 Congressional Art Competition in Georgia's Second District, U.S. Representative Sanford Bishop announced Friday (5/9). The winning entry, a still life depiction of a fish market, will be displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol, along with the winning entries from other Congressional districts around the country.

The competition for high school students-entitled "An Artistic Discovery"-is sponsored nationally by the Congressional Arts Caucus, a coalition of members of Congress who support the arts.

Representative Bishop, a member of the caucus, is one of several hundred House members who annually sponsor the art competition in their districts. This year, more than 100 works of art were submitted by students in Georgia's Second District from 18 high schools.

They are Albany High, Americus High, Brookwood School, Cairo High, Colquitt County High, Crisp Academy, Deerfield-Windsor School, Dougherty High, Georgia Christian Academy, Hardaway High, Jordan High, Stewart-Quitman High, Sumter County High, Thomas County Center High, Turner County High, Valdosta High, Westover High, and Worth County High.

All of the Second District entries will be on exhibit from Monday, May 12, through Friday, May 16, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Second District Office in Albany, located at Albany Towers, Suite 114, 235 Roosevelt Avenue.

In addition to the winning entry, the judges selected works by David Hall, 11th grade, Dougherty County High, second place; Megan Roberts, 12th grade, Albany High, third place; and Shelby Northcutt, 12th grade, Jordan High, Brittney Ashley, 9th grade, Albany High, and Jeremy Jackson, 11th grade, Westover High, honorable mention.

This year's judges are Karen Murray of Valdosta State University, Chuck Wells of Georgia Southwestern State University, and Patricia Saldariaga, a visiting judge from Colorado.

Following the weeklong exhibit at the Albany Congressional Office, the winning art work will be flown to Washington, D.C., where it will be placed in an exhibit with other district winning entries in a corridor that links the U.S. House office buildings with the U.S. Capitol, Representative Bishop said. He said hundreds of thousands of visitors, members of Congress, and other officials who use the corridor will see the exhibit during the coming year.

The national exhibit will officially open on June 24.

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