Arts Festival Names Banner Contest Winners; See The Banners Here

Nine entrants have won honors in the annual Banner Competition at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, the festival announced.

Six of the winners are from State College.

The competition, in its 44th year, is among the oldest traditions at the five-day festival. Each year, artists donate new additions to join the festival’s 250-banner collection, selections from which fly above the 100 and 200 blocks of South Allen Street. (The 2010 festival ended on Sunday.)

Volunteer judges review each year’s banner contributions and name the best of the bunch. Judges this year were Barb Hunziker, of Bellefonte; Laura Millard, of State College; and Maggie McConnell, of State College.

Artists contributed a dozen new banners to the festival this year, up from the usual six to eight. Here’s the list of award winners:

• Joanie Eyster, of State College; first place, professional class, for ‘Jester de los Picasso’

• Ginny Cooper, of Ocean View, N.J.; second place, professional class, for ‘Bargello Rhythms’

• Cathleen Bradley and Dorothy Habecker, of State College; honorable mention, professional class, for ‘Thursday’

• Donna Queeney, of State College; first place, general class, for ‘Bubbling Up’

• Cassidy Charles, of Rockaway, N.J.; second place, general class, for ‘Below? Look North’

• Lynne Heritage, of Bellefonte; honorable mention, general class, for ‘Happy Volley’

• Centre Learning Community Charter School, Elana and Kyle’s Team, of State College; first place, youth division, for ‘Create’

• Anna Pearl Belinda, of State College; second place, youth division, for ‘In Honor of Henry’

• Ruthie Strauss, Jenny Groff and Emily Goodall, of State College; honorable mention, youth division, for ‘Pure Jeanius’

Images of the banners are in the gallery posted on this page, to the right of the article text. The arts festival shared the images with StateCollege.com.

Earlier coverage: Arts Festival Turnout As Strong As Ever, Officials Say