The high school student winners of the Hollywood Burbank Airport 2017 Tower Banner Student Art Contest from Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena Unified School Districts presented their winning artwork at Monday’s March 6, 2017, Airport Authority meeting. The winners were chosen from 183 entries across all three districts. Joining them were their art teachers and district art coordinators, along with many of the students’ proud parents.
This is the tenth year the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority has sponsored the contest for students of the respective Unified School Districts in Grades 9 – 12. Each year, the Airport chooses a different aviation theme for the contest. This year’s theme, “Aviation Goes to Hollywood,” was specifically chosen to correlate with the Airport’s new name, Hollywood Burbank Airport. In 2016, the theme was “History of Aviation.” In 2015, the theme was “Great Moments in Flight.” In 2014, the theme was “Skies of Freedom.” In 2013, the theme was “The Sky’s the Limit,” and in 2012 the artists illustrated “Cleared for Take Off.”
Each school district determines which submissions are its top three entries. The arts and culture commissions from each respective city then consider the three entries and make the final award of the first place entries from their school districts based on the judging criteria set forth in the Authority’s contest rules.
The winning artwork from each school district is enlarged to a size of 16 feet by 26 feet for an approximately three-month display on the Hollywood Burbank Airport terminal tower, where it is seen by nearly a million travelers and airport visitors as they arrive and depart the Airport.
Since the contest’s inception ten years ago, $25,500 has been awarded to each school district in honor of the winning entries, with the stipulation that the award be used to help support and promote the districts’ education programs for the arts. This year, each district will receive another $3,000, bringing the total to $28,500 for each school district.
The winning entries displayed on the tower are rotated among Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena. This year, Glendale Unified School District’s winning banner, created by 11th grader Jennifer Bae from Crescenta Valley High School, will be the first to be displayed on the tower, beginning June 2017.
Pasadena Unified School District’s winning banner, created by 11th grader Ixchél Cueto-González of Pasadena High School, will be displayed beginning January 2018.
Burbank Unified School District’s winning banner, created by 12th grader Anthony Sutanto of Burbank High School, will be displayed starting April 2018.
Second and third place winners, along with the first place winners, will be displayed in the Airport’s Terminal B with background information about the contest beginning in June 2017. The second and third place winners’ artwork can currently be seen on the Airport’s website. The contest is scheduled to begin again in September 2017. To be eligible to enter the contest, student artists must be enrolled in Grades 9-12 in the public high schools of Burbank Unified School District, Glendale Unified School District or Pasadena Unified School District. Students interested in participating should contact the art faculty or art department at their high school for details.