ARTEFFECT 2023 Award Announcements Highlight Reel

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) announced the nine winners of the 8th annual ARTEFFECT competition in surprise zoom announcements throughout the week of May 31st. The international competition challenges students to creatively interpret the stories of Unsung Heroes through original works of art accompanied by artist impact statements.
LMC awarded the $6,000 Grand Prize to Celine Fong, an 11th grader at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York.
The $3,000 High School Best in Show prize was awarded to 12th grader Breanna Zaborowski, who recently graduated from Hartland High School in the Detroit suburb of Hartland, Michigan. Zaborowski’s mixed media artwork A Triple Threat presents a portrait of Unsung Hero Florence Kelley with narrative elements.
he $2,000 High School Second Place prize was Amelia Ghannam, an 11th grader at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, within Mercer County, New Jersey. Her entry Hiawatha, Uniter of the Iroquois is a chalk pastel drawing that honors Hiawatha.
The recipient of the $2,000 Middle School Best in Show prize was 8th grader Jennet Koroglu from LaVilla School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida. Her digital artwork THERE IS NO BREAD! represents the bold actions of Unsung Hero Gareth Jones in a propaganda-style poster.
From Jericho, New York, Jericho Middle School 8th grader Chloe Hu won the $1,000 Middle School Second Place prize. Her artwork Genius Inventor Behind Beauty combines pencil and digital art to celebrate Hedy Lamarr, an actress and inventor whose discoveries aided the Allies in World War II and served as the basis for modern day Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
New this year, LMC designated a $1,000 Spotlight Prize for entries celebrating Unsung Heroes previously underrepresented in the ARTEFFECT competition. This award went to Nora Morrow, an 8th grader at LaVilla School of the Arts. Her work Reaching for Vivien uses block printing ink on paper to commemorate Unsung Hero Vivien Thomas, a doctor whose medical research resulted in a surgical solution to “blue baby syndrome.”
One student received the $500 Certificate of Excellence prizes in the High School division. Eleventh grader Emily Dalcamo of Sparta High School in Sparta, within Sussex County, New Jersey, celebrates Unsung Hero Virginia Apgar in her digital work The Apgar Score. Apgar was an obstetrical anesthesiologist and the inventor of the A.P.G.A.R. score, which determines a baby’s health one and five minutes after birth.
Eighth grader Emily Leonard from LaVilla School of the Arts received a $250 Certificate of Excellence in the Middle School division. Leonard’s mixed media sculpture Future of the Sea pays homage to Unsung Hero Sylvia Earle, an American marine biologist. Earle’s work in conservation and advocacy includes the creation of Marine Protected Areas, where wildlife can thrive without human interference, and Tektite II, the first underwater habitat for humans.
For more information, please visit www.lowellmilk...