The high school student winners of the Bob Hope Airport “2013 Tower Banner Student Art Contest” from Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena Unified School Districts presented their winning artwork at today’s March 4, 2013 Airport Authority meeting. The winners were chosen from 186 entries across all three districts. Joining them were their art teachers and district art coordinators, along with many of the students’ proud parents.
This is the sixth year the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority has invited high school students in Grades 9-12 to enter the Bob Hope Airport Tower Banner Student Art Contest. Each year, the Airport Authority chooses a different aviation theme for the contest. This year’s theme was “The Sky’s the Limit.” In 2012, the theme was “Cleared for Take Off.” In 2011, the theme was “Up and Away,” and in 2010 and 2009, the artists illustrated “Joy of Flight” and “Soaring to New Heights.”
Each school district is responsible for determining which entries are chosen as its top three entries. The arts and culture commission from each respective city then considers the three entries and makes the final selection of one entry from its school district based on the judging criteria set forth in the Authority’s contest rules.
The winning artwork from each school district is displayed on the façade of the Bob Hope Airport terminal tower for a period of approximately three months where it is seen by well over a million travelers and airport visitors as they arrive and depart the terminal. The artwork is enlarged to 16 feet by 26 feet to target viewers who are on the move. Since the contest’s inception six years ago, $13,500 has been awarded to each school district in honor of the winning entries, with the stipulation that the award be used to help support and promote the districts’ education programs for the arts. This year, each district will again receive $3,000.
The winning entries displayed on the tower are rotated among Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena. This year, Pasadena Unified School District’s winning banner, created by Sadie Goff from Pasadena High School, will be the first to be displayed on the tower, beginning September 2013.
Burbank Unified School District’s winning banner, created by Jordan Lopez, Melissa Alfaro, Shushanik Hovakimyan, Rachel Verharst, Daniel Kerkotchian, and Breanna French of John Burroughs High School, will be displayed beginning December 2013.
Glendale Unified School District’s winning banner, created by 12th grader Nam Woo Kil of Crescenta Valley High School, will be displayed starting March 2014.
Second and third place winners, along with the first place winners, will be displayed in Terminal B with background information about the contest beginning September 2013.
The next contest will begin in September 2013. To be eligible to enter the contest, student artists must be enrolled in Grades 9-12 in the public high schools of Burbank Unified School District, Glendale Unified School District or Pasadena Unified School District. Students interested in participating should contact the art faculty or art department at their high school for details.
