Words: Kieran Senisi

Photos Contributed by: Nan Collins

The Congressional Art Awards Ceremony occurred on June 3, and Centennial did not fail to impress.  Five Centennial artists, including Maria Rodriguez Cardona, Abbigail Hong, Rachel Scheetz, Tricia Park, and Ye Sun Park, entered the competition under the district of U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings.  According to Rep. Cummings, over 650,000 high school students have contributed artwork in this nationwide competition in the past ten years; this year, three of the five Centennial students won top prizes.  

Senior Ye Sun Park took home first place with her painting “Woman in Blue Dress,” and her painting will be hung in the Congressional galleries for a year.  Senior Maria Rodriguez Cardona’s painting “Paper Doll” won a curator award from the Maryland Institute of Art.  Junior Tricia Park’s self-portrait also won a curator award from the Walter’s Art Museum.  Judges were not allowed to know anything about the participants, which allowed for an even playing field for the competition. These artists represented Centennial with pride, and those who did not graduate hope to do the same in future competitions.

*This article was updated on 9 June 2017 to reflect the number of years students have been submitting artwork in this competition.

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