Santa Barbara Sister Cities & Children’s Creative Project Celebrate Young Artists & Authors

Press releases are posted on Independent.com as a free community service.

On April 28 judges gathered to select Sister Cities International Santa Barbara Sister Cities YAAS – Young Artists & Authors Award winners at the home of past president Gilbert Garcia, where art experts Ann Hefferman and Kathy Koury retired (CCP) carefully selected the 2024 YAAS category winners for the Classic 2 Art submitted by Santa Barbara area student artists ages 13-18. Koury and Hefferman shared it was difficult to choose three works considering the fine talent displayed for consideration.

Judging for the Photography/Digital Art awards was done by Gary Lambert, a former house photographer for the Granada Theatre and The Arlington Theatre, who covered the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) red carpets since it’s inception, and kindly offered to judge this new YAAS category, along with Christopher Broughton, Jenny Jones, and Jason Hughes. “I found the entries extremely unusual and very focused on the theme of “Climatescape: Resilient Cities for Tomorrow’s Climate,” said photographer Gary Lambert.

The key implement of Sister Cities International’s annual Young Artists and Authors Showcase is the theme. The 2024 theme Climatescape; Resilient Cities for Tomorrow’s Climate promoted emphasis on the worlds changing climates and the cities ability to be resilient in the face of these changes, which speaks to the organization’s goal to promote mutual understanding through establishing relationships between cities and communities.

Winning artists for this year’s Classic 2 D Art included 1st Place prize to 17 year old Laura Spieler, San Marcos High School; 2nd Place prize Aung Zaw, San Marcos High School, age 16 and 3rd place prize to Camila Ronchietto, 15 years old from Dos Pueblos High School.  Photography/Digital Art 1st place went to Joselyn Vazquez Gonzales, 14 years old from Dos Pueblos High School, 2nd place to Ismael Olea, 15 years, Dos Pueblos High School, and 3rd place to Sydney Masterson, 15 years old  from Dos Pueblos High School. The 1st place winner’s submissions will be sent to Sister Cities International to compete for the $1000 top national prize.

Proud parents and friends enjoyed sponsor refreshments in the Santa Barbara County Education Office Auditorium, as the certificates and cash awards were presented by Margaret Saavedra, Chair of the Sister Cities International Santa Barbara Advisory Board, Kai Tepper, Director SBCEO Children’s Creative Project, and Kelly Mitchell (CCP). Commemorative photos were taken of winners, as well as all students in the competition attending with family members and teachers. Proud Grandpa Wally and the entire Ronchietta family shared their happiness for Camila Ronchietta who won 3rd prize award, and 1st place art winner Sydney Masterson happily posed for a photo with her proud dad.

Sister Cities International is  the U.S. national organization for nearly  500+ communities, and their 1800+ partners in 140+ countries around the world. The SCI focus on personal diplomacy now has four key themes: economic development, arts and culture, youth and education, and humanitarian assistance. The people-to-people program began 68 years ago from a proposal made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to “promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation one individual, one community at a time.” Current Santa Barbara Sister Cities include Kotor, Montenegro, Miraflores, Peru, Patras, Greece, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Toba, Japan, and Weihai, China. 

Kudos to the village of volunteers, sister city members, judges and patrons who made this art filled afternoon possible, as well as the local area art teachers and the young artists who submitted their work. For member information visit: www.cityofsantabarbara.org.www.Sistercities.org., www.ccp.sbceo.org.