Johanna Fernando from Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School has been chosen as the winner of the 2024 Congressional Art Competition for D.C. for her submission titled Lost in Thought. Members of Congress hold the annual competition and consider submissions from students in the district they represent, with the winners displaying their artwork in the Capitol for an entire year. A Congressional Art Committee, organized by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), chose the 10th-grader’s piece, a self-portrait of Fernando in her bedroom looking at a blank piece of paper. A cup of painting water and nail polishes is depicted beside her.
The Congressional Art Competition provides high schoolers across the country the opportunity to submit one piece of artwork for the prestigious prize of being displayed in the Capitol for a year. The art piece must be two-dimensional and original in concept, design, and execution.
This year Norton’s office received 56 submissions from 11 different schools representing a variety of artistic styles, from photography to digital media to paintings. The Congressional Art Competition has been taking place for 43 years and this is Norton’s 33rd year of participation.
Norton’s Congressional Art Committee is composed of notable leaders from the District of Columbia art community, including Juanita “Busy Bee” Britton, owner of the Anacostia Art Gallery and BZB International, Patrick McDonough, Manager of Visual Arts in the Office of Teaching and Learning at D.C. Public Schools, Diane Kidd, Early Childhood Education Specialist at the National Air and Space Smithsonian Museum, and local D.C. artist Jovan Bethel.
