Usually when people win something, they’re the first to find out. When Kaitlin Martin  won the Dole Art Show on January 26, 2018, she was one of the last.

Kaitlin didn’t actually attend the show, so she found out she won when someone congratulated her the next day.

Her piece depicted a realistic blue betta fish on a black background which Kaitlin drew with colored pencils. Her drawing took 10 hours.  Kaitlin started drawing on her own and has taught herself.

The art show involved all District 155 schools. Winning this art show is a huge deal for anyone because of the large amount of contestants. There were 38 contestants in the show from Prairie Ridge and 160 contestants in total. It’s an even bigger deal for a freshman, like Kaitlin, to win. Kaitlin is the second freshman to ever win the show and the first freshman from PR to ever win.  She’d never been involved in any other art show except for one in 8th grade.

Kaitlin says, “I like my piece and I worked really hard on it but didn’t expect to win.”  Winning didn’t change how she feels about drawing. Winning didn’t add any pressure on her or her drawing skills. “I still love drawing just as much as I did before.”