Art submissions are judged by children’s book writer and illustrator, Thacher Hurd. We award four Grand Prizes in art every year to United States contestants, in four different age categories. In addition, about 50 finalists are selected from the tens of thousands of entries we receive from the US and other countries.

For commercial use of this copyrighted material, please contact us about reproduction rights. All licensing fees go to support River of Words´ educator training programs, our annual contest, and our curriculum materials.

You may view small reproductions of the winning artworks below, or see larger reproductions in our 2002 Art Gallery. You may also look at art from previous years by using the menu below.

International Grand Prize Winner The River is the Basis of Life Stanislav Shpanin, Age 11 2002	Category I (K-2)Grand Prize Winner Salmon Spectacular Cody Taylor, Age 7	Category II (Grades 3-6) Grand Prize Winner Landscape Mandy Lundstrom, Age 11	Category III (Grades 7-9) Grand Prize Winner A Modern Sunday Afternoon with Seurat Megan Ward, Age 14	Category IV (Grades 10-12) Grand Prize Winner Lazy Days Elizabeth Sheridan Smith, Age 17	Untitled Lara Abelar, Age 10
Innocent Children Hakimeh Aboutalebi, Age 11	River in a Half Moon Alima Aleskerova, Age 14	Ignorance and Illiteracy Saadat Ali, Age 19	I Got the Blues Gerald Allen, Age 13	Sisters Toni Allen, Age 12	Picking Fruits Soha Azargan, Age 12
Turkey Vulture Jack Chacanaca, Age 8	Hidden River E. Jackson Darham, Age 11	Untitled Miranda Darley	Friends Fatemeh Dastour, Age 5	Yellow Salamander Lauren De Mers, Age 14	Reflections Alyson Duhon, Age 13
Winter Warbler Michael Forsyth, Age 14	Nature Mojghan Gholamrezaei, Age 11	Sunset in River Khumar Gumbatova, Age 13	What Are You Looking For? Mamedov Rustam Gunduz, Age 8	River Nymph Leyla Guseynova, Age 14	Help Me Ahmad Zakaria Koshani
Our Dream Chansereyeratna Lim, Age 19	Brightness of the Sunsett Simon Lindstead, Age 8	Peace Through the Window Elmar Mamedov, Age 8	Canopy Jennifer Mitchell, Age 17	Sunset Lookout Lynn Nguyen, Age 13	Living in Harmony Fadhil Ahmand Qamar, Age 9
Colorful Fishes in a Beautiful River Qanita Qamariani, Age 7	Untitled Jennifer Qualey, Age 7	The River Flows Narmina Ragimli, Age 11	The Catfish are Jumping Ryan Rees, Age 6	Watch, but Don't Touch Aya Rothwell, Age 16	Near the Shore Shiva Salehi, Age 17
Nature Azam Sarani, Age 13	Flying the Kites Saeed Shareefian, Age 7	Fly with Clouds Pardis Sohouli, Age 10	Spiritual Ceremony Arham Sohouli, Age 13	Unttitled Bahareh Talakoub, Age 14	For the Love of Water Trey Tezza, Age 12
Murky Depths Ryan Tremblay, Age 17	Water Protects Me McKenzie Wynters, Age 6	Life at the River Tarana Veliyeva, Age 19