Four Talented High School Student Artists Receive Top Prizes

LOS ANGELES (March 12, 2007) - The Music Center of Los Angeles County has announced the winners in the 2007 Music Center Spotlight Awards Visual Arts competition.

In the two-dimensional art category Tiana Tucker of Los Angeles County High School for the Arts received first place and Aanchal Anand of South Pasadena High School received second place. In the photography category Ian Cervantes of John Burroughs High School in Burbank received first place and Eunice Lau of Beckman High School in Irvine received second place. In addition, five honorable mentions for each category were announced. A complete list follows.

The awards celebration took place on Sunday, March 11, at the Bobbie Greenfield Gallery in Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. The artwork by all 30 semi-finalists was exhibited. First place in each category received $6,000; second place received $3,000; and the honorable mentions received $250. The winners will be presented with trophies during the Music Center Spotlight Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on April 14, 2007.

More than 760 high school students submitted original artwork for this year's Spotlight Awards Visual Arts program. The submissions were reviewed by leading artists and arts professionals who considered the technical expertise involved in each work including its craft and visual quality and also analyzed how effectively the works expanded artistic boundaries and demonstrated artistic sensitivity and vision.

The Music Center Spotlight Awards program was established in 1988 and is one of the nation's most acclaimed performing and visual arts educational programs for teens. Fredric M. Roberts is founding chairman of the Music Center Spotlight Awards; Dennis Beck is chairman and Walter Grauman creator/executive producer. The program is a project of the Fraternity of Friends, a volunteer membership organization of men who support the Music Center.

Bank of America is the Principal Sponsor of the Music Center Spotlight Awards. The program is also supported by HUB International/Kagan-Kozberg, the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation, the California Community Foundation, the Lee Graff Foundation, the Dorothy B. Chandler Program Fund, Eloise C. Goodhew Barnett, the Carsey Family Foundation, the James B. Pendelton Foundation, the Clair and Theodore Morse Foundation, and The Lucille Ellis Simon Foundation. The Walter Lantz Foundation is the Visual Arts Competition Sponsor. The visual arts reception is sponsored by Harmon Pro Group/JBL Professional. Helen and Peter Bing provide scholarship awards for winners and runners-up in performing arts categories.

For more information about the Music Center Spotlight Awards program, call 213-972-3300 or visit musiccenter.org.

VISUAL ARTS WINNERS 2007 MUSIC CENTER SPOTLIGHT AWARD Listed by county, name, age, grade, school name, county, specialty
2-DIMENSIONAL ART		PHOTOGRAPHY
First Place Tiana Tucker, 18 12th, LA Co. High School for the Arts Los Angeles County Painting Second Place Aanchal Anand, 17 11th, South Pasadena High School Los Angeles County Drawing Honorable Mention Darya Farhoodi, 18 12th, Santa Monica High School Los Angeles County Mixed Media Damaris Garcia, 18 12th, Belmont Senior High School Los Angeles County Drawing Ariana Papademetropoulos, 16 11th, LA Co. High School for the Arts Los Angeles County Mixed Media Ellen Surrey, 18 12th, Crescenta Valley Senior High School Los Angeles County Painting Jenny Xie, 17 11th, Irvine High School Orange County Painting		First Place Ian Cervantes, 18 12th, Burroughs High School Los Angeles County Traditional Film Second Place Eunice Lau, 16 11th, Beckman High School Orange County Digital Honorable Mention Hannah Bender, 16 11th, Brentwood High School Los Angeles County Traditional Film Elina Carpenter, 18 12th, Marlborough High School Los Angeles County Traditional Film Caroline Cuse, 16 11th, Marlborough High School Los Angeles County Digital Catherine Williams, 16 11th, Harvard-Westlake High School Los Angeles County Digital Cayla Casares, 17 12th, El Camino High School San Diego County Digital