Lakewood Ranch High student wins 2nd place in Congressional Arts Competition

A Sarasota High School student has been named the winner of the 2016 High School Congressional Arts Competition for the 16th Congressional District of Florida, and will have her work displayed at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, announced the winners during an event Monday evening at the Ringling Museum of Art of Sarasota.

First place, which comes with a $5,000 scholarship and a free trip to Washington for a June 23 reception, was awarded to Kali Karcher of Sarasota High School.

Second place went to Raegan Turner of Lakewood Ranch High School; third place to Elizabeth King of Pine View School in Osprey; and the "Facebook Fan Favorite" Award went to Madison Schmitz of Sarasota High School.

"I'm impressed by the exceptional talent of every high schooler who submitted artwork for this year's competition. It's clear that students from the 16th congressional district have an endless amount of creativity and skill," Buchanan said. "Kali's art will be placed on display in the U.S. Capitol and Madison's will be displayed in my Washington, D.C. office."

Ringling Museum Assistant Curator of Exhibitions Chris Jones, Curator of Contemporary Art Matthew McLendon and Curatorial Research Fellow Lauren von Bechmann judged the 45 entries from students in Manatee and Sarasota counties This year there were 45 submissions in the contest - a record high.

The winning entry, Karcher's "Three Sisters of Fort Hancock," will be showcased for one year in the highly traveled corridor between the U.S. Capitol and the Cannon House Office Building.

The Congressional Art Competition is a nationwide high school visual art competition. Since the competition began in 1982, more than 650,000 students have participated.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 7:49 AM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch High student wins 2nd place in Congressional Arts Competition ."