Students from area schools observe junior high art pieces in the annual Mark Twain Conference Art Show held at the Hook Activities Center on March 24.

POINT LOOKOUT, MO. — The Grand Champion for the annual Mark Twain Conference Art Show was School of the Ozarks with a total of 417 points. School of the Ozarks students participated in the event competing against six area schools. The Art Show was hosted in the Hook Activities Center on Thursday, March 24, on the campus of College of the Ozarks.

Mark Twain Art Competition

The other schools competing included: Bradleyville, Chadwick, Everton, Hurley, New Covenant, and Niangua. Junior and senior high students displayed artwork in 25 different categories. Schools could submit up to 60 pieces of art for the gallery show. Students were awarded first, second, and third place ribbons in each category. Honorable mentions were also awarded for select works. The scores of all the students were combined for each school.

“It is very similar to that of a track and field meet for artwork,” said Richard Williams, S of O instructor of art. “As long as the work was created within this academic school year, it was eligible to be included in the competition.”

Depending on the school, students submitted a variety of individual work as well as class projects.

“For us at S of O, I use the fall semester to do group projects, working on a specific medium or technique. When we come back from Christmas break, I give students the first nine to 12 weeks to work on choice projects, keeping this art competition in mind,” Williams said.

For junior high, S of O students ranked first place, and for senior high, students ranked second place.