Finalists Win A Trip For Four To Disneyland

To help celebrate Alaska's 50-year anniversary of statehood in 2009, Alaska Airlines, Disney, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, and Alaska Statehood Celebration Commission sponsored a contest -- inviting Alaska students from Kindergarten to twelfth grade to come up with artistic ideas to adorn one of the Boeing 737-400s in Alaska Airlines' fleet.

Thousands of entries were judged by a panel of ten distinguished Alaskans, including former governors Bill Sheffield and Wally Hickel, and artist Byron Birdsall. Judging was not based on the artwork's sophistication; instead, the panel looked for "originality, creativity, and ability to express the theme "The Spirit of Alaska" in a positive and creative manner."

The winning entry (viewable at www.PaintThePlane.com) was submitted by Hannah Hamberg, a 16-year-old junior from Sitka High School. "Growing up in a small town in Alaska, I've seen how Alaskans work together and help each other," she said. "My design was inspired by the way that we all 'pull together.' "

Hamberg explained, "I made my first rough sketch on the ferry riding from Juneau to Sitka, where after lots of thinking, I came up with the idea of a musher being pulled by several sled dogs. I looked at my sketch and thought about all the amazing things that surround me every day: the wild animals, the people and culture, and I realized that there was something missing.

"I thought my design would be better if I replaced some of the dogs with symbols of things that make Alaska the special place it is: the ferries, the native people and their culture, the bears and the whales, and of course the head sled dog to lead us to the finish line," she said.

The Grand Prize includes a trip for four to Disneyland, and of course, having the winning design applied to an Alaska Airlines 737 that will be viewed by millions of people all over the country in its travels over the next four years.

"I know I will be really proud, knowing I had a good design compared to all these other people. This whole experience has definitely made me think about an artistic career," Hamberg said. "I can't wait to see the finished plane land at the Sitka airport!"

FMI: www.PaintThePlane.com, www.alaskaair.com, www.gov.state.ak.us/ASCC, www.eed.state.ak.us