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Winners of 2020 NASA Langley Student Art Contest Named

Photograph of a student's painting of a space settlement design from the Ames Research Center Archives.
From the NASA Student Space Settlement Design Contest Collection. This is from a set of paintings created by students from Ryan International School in India.
NASA / Ryan International School

The winners of NASA’s Langley Research Center’s 2020 Student Art Contest have been selected out of nearly 1,300 entries from 40 states and Puerto Rico.

This year’s contest received a record 1,277 entries from students across the United States. These students, part of the Artemis generation, depicted the theme “We Are Going” with insightful compositions and beautiful creativity. Each piece is wonderfully imaginative, and each student, from kindergarten to 12th grade, used their incredible talents to showcase their interpretation of the theme.

The art contest is intended to illustrate where NASA is going next in the realms of research, development, missions and innovations that highlight NASA’s human exploration activities which touch aspects of our lives here on Earth.

This year’s guest judge was Michael Kagan, an award-winning artist who’s had his artistic talents showcased in solo and group exhibitions all over the world. His most recent exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, entitled “I Was There When It Happened,” featured Kagan’s lifelong interest in NASA, technology, space and innovation.

The grand-prize winner of the contest will be announced March 11. For more information on the art contest, click here. To view the winning artwork, click here. To view a gallery of art contest entrants, click here. Here are the top finishers for each grade level:
 

Kindergarten

  • First place: Ryan Bae (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Second place: Chloe Baik (Rancho Cucamonga, CA)
  • Third place: Emmalyn Huang (Shoreline, WA)
  • Honorable Mention: Daniel Baik (Los Angeles, CA)

1st Grade

  • First place: Aaradhya Donthi (Waxhaw, NC)
  • Second place: Aaron Lee (La Crescenta, CA)
  • Third place: Akhil Vuyyuru (Pleasanton, CA)
  • Honorable Mention: Rida Verma (Mountain View, CA)

2nd Grade

  • First place: Arielle Pace (Houston, TX)
  • Second place: Laina Sidlik (Plano, TX)
  • Third place: Atulit Yerrapally (Gurnee, IL)
  • Honorable Mention: Hengsheng Wang (Shoreline, WA)

3rd Grade

  • First place: Aakanksha Patel (Charlotte, NC)
  • Second place: Yaashi Kamdar (Irving, TX)
  • Third place: Daniel Chia (Duarte, CA)
  • Honorable Mention: Akshadhaa Ramakrishnan (Waxhaw, NC), Venkatlakshmi Chitta (Waxhaw, NC), Olivia Xia (Milpitas, CA)

4th Grade

  • First place: Andrew Park (Carrollton, TX)
  • Second place: Namit Vernekar (Charlotte, NC)
  • Third place: Ray Zeng (Sammamish, WA)
  • Honorable Mention: Isabella Xiao (Medina, WA)

5th Grade

  • First place: Kelly Cao (Rancho Cucamonga, CA)
  • Second place: Robert Franklin (Atlantic Highlands, NJ)
  • Third place: Nathan Lim (Rancho Cucamonga, CA)
  • Honorable Mention: Evelyn Kim (Flower Mound, TX), Charlton Kim (Carrollton, TX)

6th Grade

  • First place: Mehar Kapoor (Brampton, CA)
  • Second place: Kelton Chen (Coppell, TX)
  • Third place: Iris Chung (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Honorable Mention: Anthony Kim (Beverly Hills, CA), Ellie Park (Los Angeles, CA)

7th Grade

  • First place: Eva Park (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Samuel Lin (San Jose, CA)
  • Third place: Claire Kim (Carrollton, TX)
  • Honorable Mention: Christina Harris (Idaho Falls, ID), Meme Hastings (Virginia Beach, VA)

8th Grade

  • First place: Faith Rasmussen (Lake In The Hills, IL)
  • Second place: Kendra Vincent (San Jose, CA)
  • Third place: Mayah Kim (Fairfax, VA)
  • Honorable Mention: Marah Clark (De Pere, WI), Nneamaka Adebi (Wilmington, DE)

9th grade

  • First place: Shirlena Chen (Glenelg, MD)
  • Second place: Pia Juing (Montgomery, AL)
  • Third place: Michelle Jiang (Carrrolton, TX)
  • Honorable Mention: Grace Swenson (Allen, TX), Julia Mei (Ann Harbor, MI)

10th grade

  • First place: HyunJee Kim (Carrollton, TX)
  • Second place: Sarah Inoue (Ridgewood, NJ)
  • Third place: Stewart Key (Atlanta, GA)
  • Honorable Mention: Camila Garcia (North Bergen, NJ), Ollie Wang (Carrollton, TX), Sarah Roberts (Sierra Vista, AZ)

11th grade

  • First place: Jessica Chun (Beverly Hills, CA)
  • Second place: Noah Steed (Manassas Park, VA)
  • Third place: Eunji Kong (Carrollton, TX)
  • Honorable Mention: Alaura Knoop (Newtown, PA), Mareisha Banga (Essex, MD)

12th Grade

  • First place: Jason Cooke (Newport News, VA)
  • Second place: Christian Grant (North Bergen, NJ)
  • Third place: Snezhana Martynova (League City, TX)
  • Honorable Mention: Ronnie Mautner (Elizabethtown, PA)

Eric Gillard
NASA Langley Research Center