Jonesboro – Today, Congressmen Rick Crawford (AR-01) announced the winners of the 2021 Congressional Art Competition. Each year Crawford hosts his district-wide student art competition for grades 9-12. The overall winner of the competition will have their artwork displayed in Washington D.C. for a year with the other winners of this national competition.

Madalyn Carlock was voted the People’s Choice award this year as a result of public voting on Instagram. She is a senior at Lonoke High School and under the instruction of Rebecca Maund. Her parents are Shelby and Richard

Miss Carlock used colored pencil and ink to create her winning mixed media piece entitled, “The Beauty Within the Darkness.”

Over 200 artwork submissions representing 30 schools in the First Congressional district were submitted for this year’s competition. The judges of the competition were Jayson Mirafuentes and Brandon King both of Jonesboro.

The Congressional Art Competition is divided into medium categories and the first-place winners of each category were recognized by Crawford at a reception held at the Recovery Room Coffeehouse in Jonesboro. The first-place winners of each medium category, the Best in Show, and Peoples Choice winner will all be on display for the month of June at the Recovery Room Coffeehouse on 223 S. Main St. in Jonesboro.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors the Congressional Art Competition, a nationwide high school visual arts competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent across our nation. Since the competition began in 1982, more than 700,000 high school students have participated. This is the 10th year for Congressman Crawford to participate in this competition.