Junior Danny Diaz-Etchevehere won the up-and-coming artist award April 11 at the Eighth District Congressional Art Competition sponsored by Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

In addition, seniors Emily Acker, Keegan Barber, Gwen Chandler,  junior Jovana Ivezic, sophomores Alyssa Vasiliou, Alysha Alloway, Grace DeWitt and freshman Abigail da Silva received special congressional recognition for their entries.

Three judges selected the best 93 works of art, which will be on display for a month at the VisArts gallery in Rockville, out of over 300 entries submitted.

Diaz-Etchevehere, who plans to pursue art in the future, was excited to win the award.

“It will be helpful recognition for getting into art school,” he said.

Art teacher Jean Diamond was especially proud of the students’ success in this year’s competition because it was open to high school students all over the county, not just students from a selected number of schools or a specific age group. It was particularly impressive that these students’ artwork was chosen to be displayed since there was such a wide range of submissions, she said.

“It’s such a cool thing because it really opens the field,” Diamond said. “All awards are major.”

Barber, who has participated in the competition for the past two years, said he felt that the artwork and gallery for this year’s competition were more notable than those in past years.

“VisArts is spacious, and the building as a whole is a fantastic artistic commune,” he said.

Barber enjoyed participating in the competition because it provided feedback for his art.

“As I progress as a photographer, it actually becomes more of a challenge when assessing the quality of my own work,” Barber said. “These contests help me judge my own body of work.”