Local high school artists have the chance to win a $15,000 scholarship from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in the upcoming Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest.
According to Vicki Sanford, former state president of the VFW Auxiliary and active member of the VFW Auxiliary Post 4484, the contest gives all high school age students the chance to earn money for college. Students do not need to pursue a military career in order to enter.
“We would love for more local students to get active in this,” Sanford said.
High school-aged artists in grades 9-12 from public, private or home study programs are eligible to enter.
Two-dimensional art on canvas or paper using watercolor, pencil, pastel, charcoal, tempera, crayon, acrylic, pen, ink, oil, markers or other media may be submitted, as well as three-dimensional art including paper, pottery, clay, metalwork and fabric.
Digital art, photography, and jewelry are not being accepted, according to VFW guidelines.
Students have until March 31 to enter their artwork into the contest and bring it to the VFW, Sanford said.
The local VFW will judge all entries and submit one winner to go to district judging. From there, the artwork will be judged on a state level. The winner of the state will go on to compete for the national $15,000 scholarship, Sanford explained.
“It is a very successful program,” Sanford said.
In addition to the chance to win the big prize, those at the local VFW plan to put together a monetary gift for the student who wins at the local level, Sanford said.
“The monetary gift is a bit harder for us now,” Sanford said. But, that will not stop VFW members from finding a way to help local students.
Sanford explained that the VFW Auxiliary 4484 was once located along Main Street in Rainelle, but the 2016 floods destroyed the former building.
After the John Page Post 4484 post flooded, the VFW was given the old Quinwood Methodist Church property for their new post, Sanford continued. The new post has been named the Ralph E. Pomeroy Post 4484 in honor of Pomeroy who was a highly decorated veteran and recipient of the Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart.
Even though the post is now in Quinwood, Sanford said that they still maintain the Veteran’s Memorial Park along Main Street in Rainelle, along with help from the Rainelle Garden Club.
The memorial park was built at least 20 years ago to honor local veterans who have passed away, Sanford said. The property, which was once the site of the old Rainelle movie theatre, was donated to the John Page Post.
“We used our own money to build the park,” Sanford said. The money was raised through dinners, donations from the Buddy Poppy program, and BINGO.
Some of the monuments in the park are inscribed, and the post wants to create another monument for Pomeroy, but fundraising efforts have been hard with Covid-19 regulations, Sanford stated.
Even with all of these financial obstacles, the VFW Auxiliary Post 4484 is going strong, and they were able to award a monetary prize to the student who won the Fall 2020 Voice of Democracy scholarship program, Sanford said. They hope to help more students through the Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest.
For more information on the contest, contact Sanford at 304-438-8208, stop by the VFW post located at 137 Church Street in Quinwood, or visit the VFW national website at vfwauxiliary.org. Examples of past artwork winners can be found on the national website.
