Press Release from the Office of the Governor:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – First Lady Cathy Justice is excited to announce the Create a Quarter for West Virginia contest in honor of Presidents’ Day in February.
This will be the sixth installment of the First Lady’s Student Artist Series, an initiative that promotes the importance of arts within schools throughout West Virginia by hosting art competitions for students of varying age levels during special holidays.
For this contest, all 11th-grade students attending public and private schools in West Virginia are invited to participate. Eligible students are encouraged to study the history of Presidents’ Day, celebrated in honor of George Washington’s birthday, and then re-create the reverse side of our West Virginia State quarter in an artistic way.
Our state quarter, released in 2005 as part of the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters program, features the New River Gorge Bridge on the reverse and the traditional bust of President George Washington on the obverse.
Students are encouraged to use painting, drawing, and other art mediums to create the reverse of the West Virginia quarter. Students may also design the reverse sides of their quarters digitally.
Quarter designs must include the following:State name (“West Virginia” and the year West Virginia became a state, “1863”)The location in West Virginia being depicted in the artwork.The current year (“2020” and the Latin phrase, “E PLURIBUS UNUM”) (Please refer to enclosed example).To ensure the designs may be clearly viewed, it is not necessary to create your quarter in the original to scale size. We encourage you to create your design large enough to see details clearly. All designs must be original and fit on standard 8.5×11 paper.
A copy of the design must be scanned and emailed to [email protected] by Feb. 7, 2020. Along with the scanned copy of their quarter design, students must also include their name, school name, county, phone number, teacher name, and teacher email. Gift cards will be awarded for winning designs.
If you have any questions, contact Katie Speece at 304-558-3588 or [email protected].