By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
“I didn’t expect to win twice,” 10-year-old Justin Yim said when he was told he was the first repeat winner of The Catholic Messenger Christmas Card contest.
Yim, a fifth-grader at Regina Elementary in Iowa City, was among 974 students who submitted entries to The Catholic Messenger this year. The contest was open to all youths in kindergarten through sixth grade.
“We are so excited,” said the school’s principal, Celeste Vincent, when she learned Yim was the winner.
Yim used a variety of media to complete his artwork — including crayon, ink and pencils. “I just started drawing,” he said.
The contest information was distributed in religion class and participation was optional.
The facial expressions and excitement of those visiting the baby Jesus in the artwork captured the Messenger staff when judging. “It would be boring without expressions,” Yim said. “Since baby Jesus was born – everyone was excited.”
Art is something Yim likes to do for fun. He admits he doodles quite a bit and did get in trouble in fourth-grade because of it. Staff members at Regina laughed in the background. Typically Yim only uses pencil for his art. For special occasions he takes out the colored pencils and other art media.
When asked if he was going to enter next year’s contest as it would be the last year he is eligible, he said he thinks he will give it a try.
Additional artwork appears on Page 9 of this week’s Catholic Messenger.
Ha ha.