Grace Christian Academy student and Pacifica Art Contest Traditional Category 1 winner Victoria En Mei Huang was joined by her teacher and classmates in accepting her award and cash prize from Pacifica Insurance’s Dionne Camacho and Dana Manglona.
ENCOURAGING health and safety above all else, Pacifica Insurance Underwriters, Inc. launched its 9th Annual Pacifica Art Contest earlier this year with the theme “Living Covid-19 Safe” which gathered a total of 177 entries from artists residing in Saipan and Rota.
Participants of this year’s Contest were able to submit artwork for competitive entry in either the traditional, digital or three-dimensional categories. The digital and three-dimensional categories were added last year to allow flexibility for the creation of artwork through digital applications/software and those built in a three-dimensional format with the use of clay, wood and related mediums. The goal of the Contest with the added categories was to expand opportunities and to incentivize artists to think outside of the box and allow creative flexibility.
Marianas High School student and Pacifica Art Contest Traditional Category 2 winner Alyssa Kim was joined by school administrator Romolo Orsini and Melanie Sablan in accepting her award and cash prize from Pacifica Insurance’s Dionne Camacho.
Placing first in their respective categories were Grace Christian Academy’s Victoria En Mei Huang for traditional category one, Marianas High School’s Alyssa Kim for traditional category two, Mount Carmel School’s Trish Palacios for the digital category and Saipan Community School’s Daniel Nae for the three-dimensional category.
Mount Carmel School’s Tricia Palacios was all smiles with her principal Filmah Buenaflor after being presented with her award and cash prize for winning the Pacifica Art Contest Digital Category. Also in the photo is Pacifica Insurance’s Dionne Camacho.
Contest judges included Mind2Muscle owner Cherese Palacios, Allstar/Boarderline manager Sidney Quan and Turnkey Solutions managing partner Jerry Lin.
“As is the case each year, we are once again, blown away by the level of talent that continues to exceed expectations during this year’s Pacifica Art Contest. We are extremely grateful for the overwhelming rate of participation by our talented local artists and for the continued support of teachers and school administrators throughout the CNMI who have been instrumental in the success of this art program since it was first established 9 years ago,” said company president and CEO Shirley Sablan. “Special thanks to Jerry Lin, Sidney Quan and Cherese Palacios for accepting to take on the most difficult task of judging and we could not be more pleased with the outcome,”
Saipan Community School’s Daniel Nae bagged the Pacifica Art Contest 3-Dimensional Category. He received his award and cash prize from Pacifica Insurance’s Dionne Camacho. Also in the photo is SCS principal Amanda Dunn.
Special messages from the judges
“It was an honor to judge the Annual Pacifica Art Contest and definitely a memorable experience to see how talented our future generation will be.” — Sidney Quan
Artwork by Pacifica Art Contest Traditional Category 1 winner Victoria En Mei Huang.
“Judging the Pacifica Art contest was extremely difficult and emotional for me. Although I did not know the story behind each artwork, creativity is never a competition in my eyes — all these kids are true winners! Thank you, Shirley, Dionne, and the entire PIUI team for the opportunity.” — Cherese Palacios
“It was an honor to be part of the Pacifica Art Contest. I was so impressed by the imagination and creativity of our youth. All the pieces told a unique story and it was tough to pick the winners. To all the contestants, congratulations and continue doing great things!” — Jerry Lin
Artwork by Pacifica Art Contest Traditional Category 2 winner Alyssa Kim.
Artwork by Pacifica Art Contest Digital Category winner Tricia Palacios.
Other artists that made the Top 5
Traditional 1
Lydia Xian, 5th Grade, Mount Carmel School
Siyan Lee, 5th grade, Saipan International School
Fiona Yu, 3rd grade, Grace Christian Academy
Chlorie Lee (Jee Hoo Lee), 4th grade, Saipan International School
Traditional 2
Byul An, 8th grade, Saipan Community School
Ayung Lee, 9th grade, Mount Carmel School
Princess Divina, 10th grade, Marianas High School
Nicky Simbulan, 7th grade, Hopwood Middle School
Digital
Mika Justine Camacho,
Jeewoo Son
Nhorleen Lilles
Noriko Badiya
Physical 3D
Xinyi Ni
Gil Allen
Artwork by Pacifica Art Contest 3 Dimensional Category winner Daniel Nae.
Schools with participating artists
Mount Carmel School
Isla Montessori School
WSR Elementary School
Saipan Community School
Saipan International School
Seventh Day Adventist
Grace Christian Academy
San Vicente Elementary School
Sinapolo Elementary School
Oleai Elementary School
Hopwood Middle School
Mariana High School
Francisco M. Sablan Middle School
Kagman High School
9th Annual Pacifica Art Contest judges from left: Allstar/Boarderline manager Sidney Quan, Mind2Muscle sole proprietor Cherese Palacios and Turnkey Solutions managing partner Jerry Lin.
All entries were judged based on their creativity and originality, quality of artwork, clarity of theme, and overall presentation.
The traditional category mediums included pen, paint, charcoal, oil pastel, crayons, and color pencil.
The digital category allowed artists to submit artwork produced through a digital application. It may be submitted as a graphic layout, photograph or short video.
The 3-Dimensional category allowed artists to submit an art piece in physical 3D produced with the use of clay, wood, metal and related materials.
The traditional annual art exhibition of all art entries is now open to the general public at the Pacifica Insurance office located at the Joeten Center in Susupe. They will also be used on all holiday marketing materials to further promote winning artists.
Top placing art entries will also be made available online at www.pacificains.com/artcontest by December. You may also find them on Pacifica’s Facebook and Instagram social media pages. Stay tuned for a new online digital art exhibit of current and past winning art pieces, which will be launched by the end of the year.
Pacifica Art Contest is a visual arts competition designed to nurture and support local talent and the arts. Over 2,000 artworks have been entered in this Contest since 2014.
For more information, call (670) 234-6267 or email [email protected]/.
Pacifica Insurance Underwriters, Inc. wishes the CNMI an advanced Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season.
