BETHESDA, MD – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) today announced the winner of the 2021 Congressional Art Competition for Maryland’s 8th District: Yun Ji Choi of Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. Ms. Choi’s digital art piece, titled “Promise To Keep You Safe,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside the winning entries from every congressional district in the nation.
Congressman Raskin recognized 17 students as second-place honorees and will display their artwork in his Capitol Hill and Rockville District offices.125 high school students from more than 30 schools participated in this year’s 8th District competition. A virtual art gallery can be viewed here.
“Congratulations to Yun Ji Choi on winning this year’s art competition for 8th District high school students,” said Rep. Raskin. “I salute the 17 second-place honorees and thank all of the student participants for sharing their boundless artistic vision. I encourage everyone to check out all of the strikingly impressive student artwork in our virtual gallery.”
The second-place winners from Carroll County are: Hamza Woodson and Taylor Palomo of Winters Mill High School in Westminster and Emily Stillings of Liberty High School in Eldersburg.
The second-place winners from Frederick County are: Aidan Leskoski of Oakdale High School in Ijamsville and Natalie Fox of Middletown High School in Middletown.
The second-place winners from Montgomery County are: Olivia Brett-Major and Katherine Yoon of Holton-Arms School in Bethesda; Ava Dettling of National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C.; Myka Fromm of Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville; Jerry Ji of Landon School in Bethesda; Yonina Levisohn Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville; Sofia Montes Garzon, Regina Orradottir, Kelsea Petersen, and Grady Williams of Albert Einstein High School in Kensington; Nadine Vos of Stone Ridge of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda; and Joyce Wang of Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville.
Participating Carroll County schools include:
- Century High School in Sykesville
- Liberty High School in Eldersburg
- Westminster High School in Westminster
- Winters Mill High School in Westminster
Participating Frederick County schools include:
- Linganore High School in Frederick City
- Middletown High School in Middletown
- Oakdale High School in Ijamsville
- Walkersville High School in Walkersville
Participating Montgomery County schools include:
- Albert Einstein High School in Kensington
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda
- Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville
- Colonel Zadok Magruder High School in Derwood
- Holton-Arms School in Bethesda
- James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring
- John F. Kennedy High School in Wheaton
- Landon School in Bethesda
- Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville
- Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring
- Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville
- Rochambeau, The French International School in Bethesda
- Sherwood High School in Silver Spring
- Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda
- Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville
- The Siena School in Silver Spring
- Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda
- Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda
- Winston Churchill High School in Potomac
Other participating schools of students residing in the 8th District include:
- Edmund Burke School in Washington, D.C.
- National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C.
- Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.
“I am grateful to VisArts in Rockville for providing the online submission portal, which enabled us to safely receive and judge this remarkable art despite the challenges of the pandemic,” concluded Rep. Raskin. “I would also like to thank our terrific guest judges—Caroline Lewis, Cathy Abramson, Kathryn Freeman Vita, Ruth Lozner, and Ronald Beverly—all of whom generously shared their time and dedication to make this competition a success.”
Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 40th year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.
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