Way to Go! Shoreham-Wading River student wins Teen Ink art contest
Kristen Tortora's ink drawing of a Chinese dragon won an art contest coordinated by Teen Ink magazine. Credit: Shoreham-Wading River School District
A Shoreham-Wading River High School student with a passion for art has been named the winner of a contest coordinated by a national magazine.
Kristen Tortora, a junior, recently created a mythical creature called a loong — also known as a Chinese dragon — using acrylic inks that placed first in an art contest hosted by Teen Ink magazine. For winning, her piece was published in the magazine's December issue.
Teen Ink is a monthly tabloid-format magazine marketed to and written by teenagers. It is published by the Young Authors Foundation.
"I hope to go to college for art, and I want to paint a lot in my future," said Tortora, who was also awarded a $25 Amazon gift card, which she used to purchase art supplies. "I have been doing art since forever, really."
Tortora is also a member of her school's girls varsity tennis team as well as its art and literary magazine, Cymbals.
"We've been looking into various contests outside of school to help encourage our students to branch out with their work," said Shoreham-Wading River English teacher and Cymbals co-advisor Sara Trenn. "We were excited to learn some of our students submitted their work for consideration, but were thrilled to learn Kristen was the ultimate winner of this national art contest. All of Kristen's peers are just thrilled for her."
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
