The four participating schools submitted artwork from 39 students. Due to unexpected circumstances, the six submissions from Rio Hondo High School were not finished and therefore not considered  in the individual student awards. That left 33 pieces in the student competition. The given topic of promoting awareness of the birds migrating over the LRGV at night is very challenging. Few artists have ever attempted to depict the active phenomenon of nocturnal bird migration, and it is wide open for student creativity. The guidelines for the awards suggested a range of content for students to utilize in their work. 

The overall quality of the art submissions was wonderful. Many outstanding pieces did not place in the awards because their content did not connect with the main focus of the guidelines: "depicting the immense waves of nocturnal bird migration over the LRGV....each artwork serving as a bridge to help people in the LRGV visualize and appreciate the phenomenon." So, for example, an artwork portraying a bird qualifies for an award in a basic way but if the artwork portrayed a bird species being monitored by the project, it tended to outrank an artwork showing a non-project species. 

Regarding pertinent context, six of the 33 artworks included a clear depiction (abstract or realistic) of night time. Five of these ranked in the top ten and one in Honorable Mention because the night time context is an added connection to the bird migration study. Two artworks showed birds at sunset and both of these are in the top ten for a similar reason. Two artworks depicted birds in flight and both of these are in the top ten. The point here is that awarded artwork tended to be ranked by its connectedness to the LRGV Bird Migration Study. That said, check out the Honorable Mention section for the many outstanding student artworks that were not specifically awarded.

1st - 5th Place

Alyson Mtz, Roma High School (1st place)

Andrea Gonzalez, Donna High School (2nd place)

Elijiah Gutierrez, Donna High School (3rd place)

Dario Peña, Ramiro Barrera Middle School (4th place)

Adela Adame, Donna High School (5th place)

6th-10th place

Honorable mention