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63 Bluffton art students participated in 2025 contest

MEDIA RELEASE__The Bluffton Lions Club announced that Lydia Gratz is the winner of its local contest, the first stage of the Lions International Peace Poster Contest. Students in Bluffton Middle School's 7th-grade art classes participated in the contest. The Middle School art teacher is Mrs. Amy Gratz.

Gratz is the daughter of Dan and Joanna Gratz. Her poster is now entered into a competition at the district level of Lions Club International, where it will be considered along with winners from contests sponsored by other Lions Clubs in northwestern Ohio.

Honorable mentions are Katelyn Waltz, daughter of Michael and Stacey Waltz; Averie Marquart, daughter of Andrew and Karna Marquart; and Emily Byers, daughter of Justin and Karen Byers.   

The posters are judged according to artistic merit, originality and how well they express the theme of this year's contest, which is “Together as One.”  During the month of October, the classes viewed poster winners from previous years. They were guided in developing a concept for their poster that showed the theme artistically.

At the November 18 Lions meeting the winner and three honorable mentions each showed their poster and explained their ideas.

Jan Emmert, contest chairperson, explained the background of the International Peace Poster Contest and some of the observations of the judges.  Most notably, there were many art students participating. This year, 63 students participated from four 7th-grade art classes. It was apparent that all the contestants took the criteria seriously and looked for original ways to express the contest theme.

Local Lions President Jackie Bourassa presented each with a certificate and a small cash award.  The local contest judges were Louise Matthews, Carolyn Rich and Jan Emmert.

Lions International is a service organization that carries out a variety of local and collective service activities. One widely shared focus is on activities related to vision and preventing blindness. The speaker at the Tuesday meeting was Tim Tegge, Executive Director of The Sight Center of Northwestern Ohio in Toledo.

Recent Bluffton Lions service projects have included developing Bluffton’s bike paths, vision screening for young children, scholarships for local graduates, the annual Festival of Wheels, the Ride to Remember and support of a new Leo service club in Bluffton High School.

A major new activity this year is fundraising for an all-abilities playground to be located at Legacy Park, a Village of Bluffton park, including soccer fields that are being built on Snider Road. ◾️