Sarasota Middle School student wins a top prize in Embracing Our Differences contest
Sarasota 7th grader gets top student prize
Embracing Our Differences, a Sarasota based nonprofit, announced the winners of its annual worldwide art competition and a Sarasota Middle School student took home one of the top prizes.
In a press release, Embracing Our Differences said that it had received 15,912 entries from 128 countries, 48 states and 412 schools from around the world for the 18th annual exhibit. Fifty billboard-sized pieces of art will be displayed, each accompanied by an inspirational quote, at Sarasota’s Bayfront Park from Jan. 20 through April 1, 2021.
The goal of the exhibit is to use the power of art and prose to promote diversity.
The Best in Show, Adult award went to Arya Badiyan of Lake Oswego, Oregon, for the work titled “Liberty Enlightening The World.” The Best-In-Show, Student award went to Emily Norris, a 7th grade student from Sarasota Middle School, for her work titled “Small Struggles.”
Norris’ painting shows a young girl of color looking at an aisle of dolls that are all white with blonde hair.
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“To me, the concept of ‘embracing our differences’ means showing off what’s unique about yourself,” Norris said in the press release. “Through my work, I attempt to highlight the little struggles people of color go through every day.”
Norris was awarded a $1,000 prize, which she will split with her school’s art program.
Temilola Aderemi from Ibafo, Nigeria, won the Best in Show award for inspirational quote with: “If we were to exchange shoes, would you be willing to wear mine?”
Sarah Wertheimer, Embracing Our Differences’ executive director, explains how the winners were chosen by the selection committee.
“It needs to make an immediate impact,” she says. “Does the message encourage me to think? Does it inspire me to see something from a new perspective? Does the art itself stop me in my path? These are some of the reactions we’re hoping to inspire in the viewer.”
Embracing Our Differences was founded in 2004, and, according to their website, “uses the power of art and education to expand consciousness and open the heart to celebrate the diversity of the human family.”
Interested?
For more information about the 2021 exhibit or Embracing Our Differences, call 941-404-5710 or visit www.embracingourdifferences.org. A gallery of all the winning artwork and quotes can be viewed at /www.embracingourdifferences.org/gallery/2021-gallery/.