Kids Tag Art Pinellas Celebrates Local Students At Largo High School

LARGO, FL — On Jan. 26, the Pinellas County Tax Collector's Office honored fifth-grade students and teachers at the eighth annual Kids Tag Art Pinellas Awards Ceremony.

For the first time since 2020, students and teachers were celebrated in person instead of virtually.

Pinellas County Tax Collector Charles W. Thomas, his team, members of the Pinellas County Schools Visual Arts Department and a few VIP presenters celebrated the award-winning tag art designs. More than 400 students, teachers and parents were present while awards were presented to over 155 students, including the top student and teacher artists of the year.

"I am beyond excited that we were able to honor these students in a live ceremony again," Thomas said. "And we kept the live-stream option as a way for family and friends who couldn't attend to partake in the celebrations. Although the main purpose of the program is to raise money for local elementary art classrooms, this event is my favorite part of the program. It is truly rewarding to see the excitement on the students' faces. It's wonderful to be able to celebrate these students and their achievements."

This program is a partnership among the Pinellas County Tax Collector's Office, Pinellas County schools and community sponsors. Funds are raised for local elementary school art classrooms through donations and by selling artwork — front-facing license plates — designed by Pinellas County fifth-graders and teachers. These plates are available online with 100 percent of the proceeds returning to the participating art classrooms.

Out of more than 2,300 unique entries, 154 were selected to receive an Award of Excellence by a panel of retired art teachers. Each winner received a certificate and a Kids Tag Art Pinellas medal to mark their accomplishment.

Program sponsors were also invited to select student winners — either by choosing a favorite from the Award of Excellence designs or by submitting a fun theme for students to participate in from which the sponsor selected a winner. These Sponsor Choice Award winners, 11 in total, received a framed copy of their tag design, a swag bag full of goodies and various prizes donated by community businesses.

The third annual teacher art contest winners were also announced and celebrated at the ceremony.

The Tax Collector Choice Award, the highest award of the program, is personally selected by Thomas. This year's winner was Lilyanna Gonzalez from Plumb Elementary. Lilyanna had a unique digital design of a frog, using different hues of green and skilled shading techniques. As the top winner, Lilyanna received an Astro Skate Birthday Party, passes to Celebration Station in Clearwater, a CiCi's Clearwater pizza party, passes to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and a Tampa Bay Lightning puck signed by Brian "The Moose" Elliot.

"Selecting a winner is never easy because there are so many amazing creations. However, I ended up selecting Lilyanna's frog design because, not only does it remind me of the tree frogs we see here in Pinellas, but it's obvious she spent a lot of time on this due to the attention to detail and all the great shading work," Thomas said. "She is clearly a very talented young artist and I am honored to be able to recognize her for this accomplishment."

Each year, Thomas personally orders his winner's tag to be placed on the front of his vehicle for a year.

This year's sponsor winners as well as the top three teacher winners are:

• Daniella Trauscht, Westgate Elementary - Tag Agency of Pinellas Sponsor Choice Award
• Madison Wheaton, Gulf Beaches Elementary - MicroLumen Sponsor Choice Award
• Makenna Buchans, Seminole Elementary - FL Heart Research Foundation Sponsor Choice Award
• Sunnie Randolph, Starkey Elementary - DPrint Sponsor Choice Award
• Tess Meyer, Ridgecrest Elementary - City of Largo Sponsor Choice Award
• Adrian Bueno, Safety Harbor Elementary - Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Sponsor Choice Award
• Daniel Mihalinec, Anona Elementary - Office Worx Sponsor Choice Award
• Daniel Nguyen, Brooker Creek Elementary - Lauren's Kids Sponsor Choice Award
• Cali Cole, Bear Creek Elementary - Grant St. Group Sponsor Choice Award
• Lauren Regan, Plumb Elementary - 1st Place Teacher Contest Winner
• Shannon Livingston, Brooker Creek Elementary - 2nd Place Teacher Contest Winner
• Lauren Moon, Sawgrass Lake Elementary - 3rd Place Teacher Contest Winner

Since its inception, more than $280,000 has been raised by Kids Tag Art Pinellas for local elementary art classrooms and programs. The winning tags from each year are put on display at tax collector offices throughout the county.

This year's Kids Tag Art program is made possible through community sponsors including Tag Agency of Pinellas, Direct Mail Systems, Florida Heart Research Foundation, Motor Vehicle Network, DPrint, MicroLumen, City of Largo, Office & Flooring Worx, Lauren's Kids, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Grant Street Group, Bill2Pay and the DonCeSar.