By Friends of the E. Louise Childs Library | June 29, 2023
Recently the Friends of the E. Louise Childs Library sponsored their 2nd annual art contest. The first one held last year was to showcase the lake through art. This year we were in search of a logo for our organization. The art contest is named in honor of Racquel Hiben, a partner in the law firm of Gruber, Colabella, Liuzza, Thompson and Hiben in Hopatcong, NJ.
Racquel was instrumental in helping the Friends of the Library become incorporated as a 501©3 when we first began to form in 2019. Her dedication and assistance has allowed us to become a great support to the patrons and community of the library. We will forever be grateful to her for donating her services.
In October of 2022, a letter of request was sent to all Sussex County Schools, by President Mona Phillips, asking all teachers from grades K -12 to invite their students to submit their art work to create a logo for our group. To entice participation, the prize for the winning student would be $100.00 and the teacher of the winning student would get $100.00 to use for their classroom supplies.
We were thrilled to receive over 27 entries which showcased the talent that we have in some of our Sussex County schools. All entries were displayed for the Friends of the Library members to see and cast their vote for the winning submission. Everyone did an amazing job and judging was not an easy task. However, the winning student was Beatrice Douglas – an 8th grade student at the Sussex County Charter School. Her logo implies that reading can be enjoyed 24/7, something that the Friends of E. Louise Childs Library strives to support in a variety of creative ways. She was awarded the $100 prize and her teacher, Andrew Tencza, received the $100 prize for his classroom. President Mona Phillips presented the awards to them at the school on June 12th, 2023. We can’t wait to start using the logo on our materials and information.
In addition, the Friends of the Library decided to award a second place prize to Pope John XXII Middle School and their teacher, Daria Koester. Pope John had the most submissions from all of the Sussex County schools which were designed by students in the 5th, 6th, and 7th grade classrooms! In recognition of this, we decided to award a $50 check to the school, which was presented to Daria Koester by Racquel Hiben on June 16, 2023 in honor of this achievement and their student involvement.
We are pleased to announce that we are already looking towards our 3rd annual art contest and will send information out to the schools in the fall. Next year the theme for our art submissions will be “Wildlife in Sussex County.” More information and details on submission requirements will be forthcoming. All students K-12 in Sussex County Schools are eligible and your teachers will have the information to direct you on how to participate in next year’s contest! We look forward to receiving everyone’s art submissions in 2024!
Choose your medium (photo, drawing, painting, etc.) and begin portraying your wildlife subjects now.
For more information on the E. Louise Childs Friends of the Library Group contact us at friendselouisechildslib@gmail.com – we meet quarterly at the library and always welcome new members to join us.