Will Compete In International Judging In April

The National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) is proud to announce the U.S. winners of the 2015 International Aviation Art Contest. The winning original artwork with this year's theme of "World Air Games" will be forwarded to Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in Lausanne, Switzerland to be included in the International judging in April.

The selected student entries came from the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Virginia. To be eligible for the national judging, students participated in state-wide art contests and placed first, second or third in one of three age groupings. NASAO received artwork this year from 25 states with more than 4,600 students submitting their work in those contests.

The contest, sanctioned by FAI and the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), and managed by NASAO, is co-sponsored by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott, Ken Cook Co., the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Coalition for Aviation and Space Education (NCASE) and is designed to motivate and encourage young people of FAI member nations to become familiar with and participate in aeronautics, engineering, and science.

Greg Principato, NASAO President and CEO said NASAO members see this as an excellent opportunity to promote aviation and aerospace education in the states. “The job of inspiring, educating and preparing the next generation of aviation leaders in never done,” said Principato. “It is up to all of us to take responsibility. This is one small way we are doing that.”

“This contest is a great opportunity for students to learn about this important industry while exercising their imaginations,” Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Acting Secretary Leslie S. Richards said. “We’re proud that Pennsylvania had three winners this year and we congratulate all of the artists who participated in this contest.”

“The New Jersey Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics is proud of all our young artists,” said Ashwin “Max” Patel, Manager of Multimodal Grants & Aeronautics. We are very excited that three New Jersey artists, Xinyi (Christine), Cassie and Matthew, have been recognized for their artistic talent at the U.S. National level competition.”

The winners of the 2015 U.S. Aviation Art Contest are:

Category I (Junior): 6 to 9 year olds
First Place: Xinyi (Christine) Zhang, New Jersey
Second Place: Xinyun (Mark) Zhou, Pennsylvania
Third Place: Ryan Gao, California
 
Category II (Intermediate): 10 to 13 year olds
First Place: Jasmin Yoon, Virginia
Second Place: Cassie Wang, New Jersey
Third Place: Matthew Li, New Jersey

Category III (Senior): 14 to 17 year olds
First Place: Hyoju (Karen) Ahn, Connecticut
Second Place: Xincheng (Jack) Zhou, Pennsylvania
Third Place: Serena Yan, Pennsylvania

“We are so pleased to hear that Ryan Gao from California was selected for Third Place in the Category I Junior Level for the US competition,” said Gary Cathey, Division of Aeronautics Chief for the California Department of Transportation. “We hope that he continues to pursue his aviation interests for the long term.  The Caltrans Division of Aeronautics strongly supports aviation education and related activities to enable our youth to explore career paths in aviation and other STEM related occupations.”

The artwork for the national competition was judged for its originality, creativity, and use of the theme "World Air Games" by a distinguished panel including: Debbie Gallaway, former U.S. Representative to Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) and former NASA Education Coordinator and Art Greenfield, the Director of Contest and Records for the National Aeronautic Association. The winners will receive ribbons and a framed reproduction of their artwork.

(Images provided by NASAO. Top: Xinyi (Christine) Zhang, Middle: Jasmin Yoon, Bottom: Hyoju (Karen) Ahn)

FMI: www.nasao.org