Ag News
GFB announces Art & Bookmark Contest winners
Posted on Apr 08, 2026 at 15:25 PM
Georgia students tapped into their artistic talents to create colorful bookmarks and draw scenes depicting agriculture for the 2026 Georgia Farm Bureau Middle School Bookmark and High School Art Contests.
Cristina Alzuarge, of Dawson County, won the GFB High School Art Contest with her drawing of a pig standing up on a fence with a scenic pasture behind it. She won $250 as the state high school art contest winner and $100 as the GFB District 1 winner. She is a freshman at Dawson County Junior High School.
Hailey Thomas, of Barrow County, won state honors in the middle school bookmark contest for her vibrant bookmark highlighting Georgia peaches, cotton, flowers, chicken, peanuts, pecans and blueberries. She received $150 for winning the state bookmark contest and $100 as the GFB District 4 winner. She is an eighth-grade student in the Arts and Innovational Magnet Program at the Barrow County School System’s Center for Innovative Teaching.
Visit https://gfb.ag/26artwinners to see all the district winners’ artwork for the 2026 GFB High School Art Contest. Visit https://gfb.ag/26bookmarkwinners to see all of the district winners’ creations in the 2026 GFB Middle School Bookmark Contest.
This marks the 32nd year GFB held its annual art contest for ninth through twelfth-grade students. This is the fifth year GFB coordinated a contest for sixth through eighth graders to design a bookmark.
“Georgia Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom Art Contests give students, who might not otherwise study agriculture, a chance to create a piece of art inspired by what they learn about Georgia agriculture after watching a video, doing research or visiting a farm,” said GFB President Tom McCall. “It’s always exciting to see the creative ways the students express what they’ve learned. I’d like to thank all the county Farm Bureaus who held local contests and the teachers who encouraged their students to enter. Congratulations to the district and state winners.”
GFB received entries for its high school art contest from 60 county Farm Bureaus and entries from 78 county Farm Bureaus for its middle school bookmark contest.
A panel of judges selected GFB district winners for each contest from all county entries submitted from each district. The judges then selected the state winners for each contest from the district winners. Entries in both contests were judged on how well the artwork represents agriculture in the student’s county or Georgia and for artistic merit.
Contestants in the high school contest were instructed to create a drawing depicting Georgia agriculture in black & white or color using their choice of art media including graphite, charcoal, pastel, chalk, colored pencils, ballpoint pen or mixed media appropriate for printing.
The middle school contestants were given a blank bookmark and asked to create a design illustrating Georgia agriculture.
District winners in the GFB High School Art Contest were:
GFB 1st Dist. Cristina Alzuarge Dawson County
GFB 2nd Dist. Alyssa Childers Elbert County
GFB 3rd Dist. Hanae Miyazawa Cobb County
GFB 4th Dist. Connie Gao Oconee County
GFB 5th Dist. Edith English Pike County
GFB 6th Dist. Bailey Barron Washington County
GFB 7th Dist. Jai’Mya Marshall Burke County
GFB 8th Dist. Jack Hopkins Lee County
GFB 9th Dist. Taylor Sapp Decatur County
GFB 10th Dist. Aurora Andersen Glynn Co.
District winners in the GFB Middle School Bookmark Contest were:
GFB 1st Dist. Xintong Li Forsyth County
GFB 2nd Dist. Gisele Su Jackson County
GFB 3rd Dist. Michael McClain Douglas County
GFB 4th Dist. Hailey Thomas Barrow County
GFB 5th Dist. Penelope Starr Troup County
GFB 6th Dist. Makayla Hurst Washington County
GFB 7th Dist. Gaon Hwang Effingham County
GFB 8th Dist. Lauren McDuffie Wilcox County
GFB 9th Dist. Jaylan Roberts Seminole County
GFB 10th Dist. Abigail Welch Camden County
Each district winner in both contests received a $100 prize.
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