PICKENS COUNTY — Civitas Media’s publications in South Carolina held an Easter Coloring Contest open to students in their publication areas and the local winners were recently announced.
Winners from The Easley Progress were:
• Maegen Flynn, 9, first place
• Bailey Kelley, 9, second place
•Victoria Basic, 8, third place
Winners from The Pickens Sentinel were:
• Madison Mullins, 9, first place
• Rain Smith, 10, second place
• Seth Watson, 9, third place
The first, second and third place winners from each publication — including The Newberry Observer in Newberry and The Union Times in Union — were then judged by employees, customers and delivery people who came into The Newberry Observer. Those voting could only see the drawings so the results, while not scientific, were as close to anonymous as we could get them.
“We had a hard time narrowing the drawings down from 12 to four, which we used because that is the number of newspapers we have,” said Patricia Edwards, group publisher for the South Carolina papers. “Then when we got it whittled down to four, that’s when the real hard decisions had to be made. There were some really awesome entries, which made it a difficult choice, but ultimately, the grand prize winner was chosen.”
The grand prize winner was Emily D. Hawkins, age 10, of Newberry, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Hawkins. All who voted commented on the use of detail Emily added to the drawing and to the whimsical nature of her entry.
“It was a tough decision — the four we had to choose from were all so good,” Edwards said. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate the participation from all of the artists who submitted their work. Hopefully the rest of the coloring contests we have in 2016 will draw even more entries.”
Emily will receive a bicycle and helmet combo, courtesy of Upcountry Outdoors of Easley.
Civitas Media, which includes The Easley Progress and the Pickens Sentinel, will have more opportunities for local artists to become winners with other coloring contests that will be announced as the year progresses. Each contest will have its own unique grand prize so be sure to watch The Progress and The Sentinel for details.
