FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 25, 2009
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124
aperkins@pa.muw.edu

MUW art students garner awards at Mississippi Collegiate Art
Competition

COLUMBUS, Miss. - Mississippi University for Women students recently took top honors at the Mississippi Collegiate Art Competition in Jackson.

There were a total of nine media categories and MUW students received awards in six.

Recipients were Laura Sewell (mixed media category) from Northport,
Ala.; Teri Lynn Hubbard (fiber category) from Batesville; Shana Gibson (computer imaging category) from Starkville; Jessy Ingram (design category) from Steens; Andy Snyder (photography category) from Carriere and Cynthia Waites (drawing category) from Columbus.

The art competition is a statewide juried art exhibition and is open to
any student studying art at one of Mississippi’s four-year
institutions, according to Alex Stelioes-Wills, MUW assistant professor of art. Each year a different juror, who is an artist as well as a university professor, is chosen. The out-of-state juror selects the work for exhibition and all of the awards.

“Although MUW competes with much larger art programs in terms of
students, faculty and budget, we have always competed strongly and
usually have performed well,” Stelioes-Wills said. “This year MUW
did especially well with 37 out of 100 accepted entries-more than any
other program.” There were 640 entries total.

The Collegiate Art Competition began in the 1970s as a part of the
Mississippi State Fair and when it was juried with works in person,
Stelioes-Wills said.