GFB News Magazine

Ag in the Classroom Update

Posted on August 22, 2022 12:00 AM

Agriculture makes a great subject for art, which the winners of the 2022 Georgia Farm Bureau Middle School and High School Ag in the Classroom Art Contests prove. 

Zihan Zhao of Gwinnett County sketched the first-place winning drawing of a family with dairy calves in the high school art contest. Lincoln Miller of Gordon County was named the state runner-up for his mountain farm scene of a hay barn and chickens. 

Zhao won $250 as the state high school art contest winner and $100 as the GFB 3rd District winner. Miller won $150 for being the runner-up and $100 for being the GFB 1st District winner.

Jaden Addison of Grady County won state honors in the middle school bookmark contest for colorfully depicting the variety of Georgia agriculture. 

Addison received $150 for winning the state middle school bookmark contest and $100 as the GFB 9th District winner. 

This marks the 28th year GFB has held its annual art contest for ninth through twelfth-grade students.  This is the first year GFB coordinated a contest for sixth through eighth graders to design a bookmark, replacing the essay contest.

“Georgia Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom Art Contests encourage students to explore agriculture and then create a piece of art inspired by what they learned,” said GFB President Tom McCall. “Students who might not otherwise think about agriculture learn about the variety of crops and livestock Georgia farmers raise as they create their drawings.”

GFB received entries for its high school art contest from 61 county Farm Bureaus and entries from 68 county Farm Bureaus for its middle school art contest. GFB district winners for each contest were picked from all county entries submitted from each district.

GFB posted the district winners’ artwork for each contest on its Facebook page the first week of May to allow Georgia’s ag community to select the state winners of each contest. For the high school contest, the drawing with the second-most votes was named runner-up. 

Contestants in the high school contest were instructed to create a black, white and gray drawing using graphite, charcoal, pastel, chalk, colored pencil, ballpoint pen or mixed media appropriate for printing. Drawings were judged on how well the artwork represents agriculture in the student’s county or Georgia and for artistic merit. 

The middle school contestants were given a blank bookmark and asked to create a design illustrating Georgia agriculture. 

Jaden Addison of Grady County won the GFB Middle School Bookmark Contest with this artwork.

Visit www.gfb.ag/22bookmarkwinners to see the other district winners' creations.

GFB Middle School Bookmark Contest District Winners

GFB 1st Dist.              Kimberly Torres-Perez, Whitfield Co.

GFB 2nd Dist.             Emily Mavis, Hall Co.

GFB 3rd Dist.             Alexandra Dimitrova, Paulding Co.   

GFB 4th Dist.             Maya Funderburk, Oglethorpe Co.            

GFB 5th Dist.             Eli Fry, Upson Co.    

GFB 6th Dist.             Gage Holloway, Laurens Co.    

GFB 7th Dist.             Selena Sanders, Effingham Co.             

GFB 8th Dist.             Marquis Diaz, Turner Co.       

GFB 9th Dist.             Jaden Addison, Grady Co. (State winner)

GFB 10th Dist.           Avery Adkins, Lowndes Co.

Georgia Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Coordinator Lauren Goble may be reached at ldgoble@gfb.org or 478-474-0679, ext. 5135. Contact your county Farm Bureau if you’d like to volunteer with its Ag in the Classroom program.