News Releases - 1998

50 Young Artists, Writers Honored For Outstanding Environmental Works

Springfield, Ill. -- Fifty Illinois fifth and sixth grade artists and writers are being honored at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, with a month-long exhibit of their works. An honors reception was held at the museum March 21 for the pupils, their families and teachers. Their environment-oriented drawings, poems and essays will remain on display through April 30.

Last January, students around Illinois studied and then illustrated environmental awareness in a course sponsored by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Participating schools selected two entries each in the drawing and writing categories for judging in Springfield, where nearly 200 entries were evaluated to select 50 finalists. Six entries earned U.S. savings bonds and specially inscribed books for their creators' school libraries as well as the ribbons and certificates awarded to all the finalists.

The extended display marks a new direction for the Illinois EPA's 11-year-old environmental education effort. For the first time this year, sixth as well as fifth graders in Illinois schools were invited to participate in the upgraded, expanded and renamed program, now called "Air, Land & Water." This year's focus was "The Land We Depend On." The awards were presented by William Child, chief of the Illinois EPA's Bureau of Land, who told the youngsters, their families and teachers, "You all should have won, because these works show you understand the importance of the Illinois environment." He spoke briefly on the importance of environmental study in the classroom, and said programs such as this not only educate the youngsters but make them teachers who can in turn instruct their families and friends about protecting their environment.

During the awards program, John Fletcher of Palos Heights, a student at St. Alexander school, received top prizes for both his poster and a written entry. Other top winners included Alison Hunt, Lake Zurich, Lake Zurich Middle School North; Emily Waldron, Sparta, Sparta Lincoln Middle School; Brenna Matysik, Swansea, Wolf Branch School; and Kaitlyn Neises, Galena, Nativity BVM school. Paul Zwiercan, of Mt. Prospect, a student at St. Emily's School, had both his written and drawn entries selected for inclusion in the top 50.

At the close of the Museum exhibition, the top six entries will be spotlighted in a traveling exhibit at three Springfield sites during May, and will be added to the Illinois EPA's homepage at www.epa.state.il.us.

A list of the finalists follows.