Congressional Art Competition
The Congressional Art Competition results were recently released by Congressman Adria Smith's Office. Litchfield had
two of the four winning artworks. The first place winner, Dallas Rohde, was called by Congressman Smith and informed
he will be flown to D.C. to be recognized. Dallas will receive two round-trip plane tickets and will meet Adrian Smith in
Washington D.C. for the ceremony. The artwork will then be on display for the year in the Capitol Hill Tunnels. (These
tunnels allow staffers and members of Congress to move underground between the office buildings,
Library of Congress, and Capitol building.) Dallas's Artwork "Copper Corn" was created by forging the metal and then
oxidizing different areas of the metal. He chose to use the subject matter of an ear of corn in a field about to be harvested.
Rilee Howard won 4th place in the competition with her photography of windmills. Her work is more
abstract/contemporary with an industrial feel. Howard's photo is titled "Wind Shadows" and depicts the full shadow
of a windmill but in the foreground just a few antique blades. Her piece will be on display in Congressman Smith's
Grand Island office. Rilee won 2nd place last year and her artwork was on display at Smith's office in Washington D.C.
Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a
nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize
and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each
congressional district. Since the Artistic Discovery
competition began in 1982, more than 650,000 high school
students have participated.
Students submit entries to their representative’s office, and
panels of district artists select the winning entries. Winners
are recognized both in their district and at an annual
awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The winning works
are displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol.
Pictured at the right is artwork in the Capitol Hill Tunnels.