Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-14) has announced that public voting for the Congressional Art Competition’s People’s Choice Award has begun. Each Spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent across the nation and in each congressional district. This year Rep. Graves hosted a modified competition for local high school students due to the ongoing public health crisis, and all local high school student submissions were submitted digitally. All 27 pieces are online for public viewing, seen here. The voting form with instructions can be seen at the bottom of the webpage.

Local judges, chosen by the Rome Area Council of the Arts, have chosen winners for the top three places, along with two honorable mentions. Residents of the 14^th Congressional District are encouraged to vote for their favorite piece to win the People’s Choice Award, which will be announced early next week with the other five winners. The public voting will run through Sunday, May 31^st. You can visit tomgraves.house.gov/art to vote.

“I am proud of our local student artists who used this time, even though many schools have been closed, to share their creative talents with our community. I urge residents of the 14^th Congressional District to vote for their favorite student piece and hope Northwest Georgians enjoy viewing the art as much as I did,” said Rep. Graves.

The 1^st place winner’s artwork will be shipped to Washington, D.C., where it will remain on display in the Cannon House Office Building’s Capitol Tunnel for one year, alongside the 1^st place artwork from every congressional district in the country.