Lincoln Elementary fourth-grader wins top prize in Glendale student poster contest

A Lincoln Elementary student won first place in a poster contest that had nearly 10,000 entries from elementary students across Glendale’s public and private schools earlier this month.

Fourth-grader Lukas Newman earned the top spot in the contest as part of Glendale Clean & Beautiful’s annual “I Love My Neighborhood” competition, where students ranging from those in transitional kindergarten to sixth grade submitted posters illustrating their communities.

NEWSLETTER: Get the latest 818 headlines straight to your inbox >>

His poster, titled, “Slam Dunk the Junk,” depicts a boy pitching a bag of trash into a bin, while another boy, sitting on a nearby park bench, looks on.

Lukas, 10, drew the poster with markers at his home.

“First, I thought of doing the park, then I wanted to do a trash can and a bench. Later, I thought, I wanted to add a pond. And I wanted to add myself and a friend. So I had my friend sit on the bench, and I was standing next to him, and I was throwing the garbage into the trash can.”

Armina Gharpetian, president of the Glendale Unified School Board, helped run the contest.

“After [an] extensive judging process, we were able to choose 82 finalists out of those thousands of beautiful artworks,” she said.

Members of the public then judged the final posters at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, and Lukas emerged as the grand-prize winner.

“I was really surprised,” Lukas said. “I was really nervous and excited at the same time. And then, when I heard my name called, my nervousness went away. I was happy.”

Salem Lutheran School student Santiago Sanchez won second place, and John Muir Elementary student Brandon Doronila placed third.

In honor of the top three winners, Glendale Clean & Beautiful will plant a tree at each of their schools this fall, Gharpetian said.

“I think that’s really cool,” Lukas said of the tree planting at Lincoln Elementary. “I think it’s really awesome to have a tree planted in your honor.”

--

Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan

--

ALSO:

Glendale city manager objected to Rockhaven’s historic designation, citing concern for developers

GCC students celebrate U.S. citizenship

Country’s oldest children’s bookstore, located in Montrose, will be recognized