XENIA — Greene County Children Services recently announced the winners of its Child Abuse Prevention Art Contest.
The grand prize winner is Brynn Denton, a fifth-grade student at Fairborn Intermediate School. She was also one of the 12 winners as a fourth grader in last year’s contest. Denton will receive a $100 prize and her artwork will be featured on the cover of the 2022 Children Services calendar as well as on one of the monthly spreads inside the calendar.
The annual contest is open to fourth and fifth graders at participating schools in Greene County. It was more of a challenge for schools to participate this school year due to remote learning situations at many of them. The agency received 115 entries from four Greene County schools, compared to nearly 250 entries from nine schools last year.
“While the number of entries was down this year due to the pandemic, the creativity of the student artists was as strong as ever,” Greene County Children Services Administrator Lana Penney said.
The theme of this year’s art contest was Hometown Heroes — Preventing Child Abuse in Our Community.
“We decided on this theme during the summer of 2020 when everyone’s focus was very much on staying home or close to home,” Greene County Children Services Public Relations Specialist Monica Schiffler said. “Reporting suspected child abuse is one of many ways someone can be a hometown hero.”
The remaining 11 art contest winners are: Ellie Babione, fifth grade, Legacy Christian Academy; Mansour Bader, fourth grade, Fairborn Intermediate School; Anna Bennett, fifth grade, Legacy Christian Academy; Anika Brandt, fifth grade, Legacy Christian Academy; Annie Casto, fourth grade, Fairborn Intermediate School; Annabelle Hamilton, fifth grade, Legacy Christian Academy; Liza Hess, fourth grade, Legacy Christian Academy; Autumn Kirby, fourth grade, Fairborn Intermediate School; Lila Malcolm, fifth grade, Fairborn Intermediate School; Lena Smith, fifth grade, Legacy Christian Academy; and Rebekah Smith, fifth grade, Shawnee Elementary.
“We would like to thank all the contest winners for using their artistic talent to bring more awareness to the issue of child abuse prevention,” Penney said. “We believe it’s an important message for Greene County residents of all ages.”
Each winner will receive a cash prize from Greene County Children Services, and each winner’s school will receive a matching prize. Winning artwork will be featured in the 2022 calendar. Along with the cash prize, each art contest winner will receive a framed copy of their original artwork and an award certificate from Greene County Children Services.
