1999 National Dance Week Poster Contest.

Fifteen hundred dollars in cash, gift subscriptions, and merchandise have been awarded to winners in the 1999 National Dance Week poster contest sponsored by Dance Magazine and Capezio/ Ballet Makers, Inc. The annual contest is held in support of the mission of National Dance Week: to heighten awareness in the general population of dance and its value.

More than three hundred posters were received from throughout the United States by the January 1 deadline and were considered for awards. First-place poster artists won $300, second-place winners received $200, and third-place winners were awarded $100. Student artists receiving honorable mention and awards of encouragement were sent gift subscriptions and merchandise.

This year's posters displayed a range of skill, innovation, and sophistication; they included clever use of words, two-dimensional constructions and one mobile, and a special sensitivity to multiculturalism and world dance. Stephanie Calandro's winning entry actually showed a book of 101 Reasons to Dance. Teacher Renee Wood, whose entire studio makes this a project every National Dance Week, showed winners again as in past years. Besides receiving awards, the winners' posters will be displayed at various venues and events.

Judges from the art departments of the two sponsoring companies selected the winning posters. Entries were scanned for compliance with rules of the contest, separated into the three categories, and then judged according to age level, with the artists and their teachers remaining anonymous; judges' decisions are final.

Two awards of encouragement for special creativity or execution of an idea went to Katherine Carlson Hukill, Wake Forest, North Carolina, who studies at Raleigh School of Ballet; and Noah Singleton, Debary, Florida, a student at Miriam & Valerie's School of Dance Arts in Sanford, Florida.

An appealing letter accompanied an attractive poster from the two-year-old son of Molly King at King's Academy of Fine Arts in Harvest, Alabama. Although there is no age division for children that young, his parents helped young Allen spraypaint around alphabet cookie cutters the letters spelling out "National Dance Week" and cut out finger-painted dancer silhouettes. His father took pictures showing the young creative movement student in sports costumes working to be a better athlete one day.

The first report of Dance Magazine's NDW poster contest dates back to May of 1943; photographs, poems, and essays on "Dancing in the National Defense Program" were also solicited. Winners were awarded prizes of two-year subscriptions.

Category Age 6-10

First place (at right) to Allison M. Conner, Frederick, Maryland, student of Mrs. Laurie at Creative Dance Dimensions. Second place went to Marissa Koszubowski, Clinton, Michigan, student of Renee Wood; third to Lindsay Murphy, Frederick, Maryland, student at Creative Dance Dimensions; and honorable mention to Caitlin Furtado, Southbury, Connecticut, student of Ms. Darcie Galenti at Lights, Camera, Dance.

Category Age 11-13

First place (at left) to an entry prepared by Sarah Ruiz, Margaret Anne Harrison, and Vanessa Tomkowiak of Port Huron, Michigan, all students of Renee Wood. Second place went to Ali Miller of St. Petersburg, Florida, student of Amy Rhoda Taylor of Judith Lee Johnson Studio of Dance; third place and honorable mentions to Cheryl Schoen, Macomb, Michigan, and Brandi Ferranti, Warren, Michigan, both students of Renee Woad, Metropolitan Ballet Center.

Category Age 14-18

First place (below left) awarded to Stephanie Calandro from Clinton, Michigan, student of Renee Wood. Second place was awarded to Katie Thomann, Kearny, Missouri, student of Deena Budd, the school of the State Ballet of Missouri; third place to Eddie Pacheco, New Rochelle, New York, student of Mrs. Lyons at New Rochelle High School; honorable mention to Josie Garthwaite, Lagunitas, California, a student at Marin Ballet.