Newport Seventh Grader Wins City's Holiday Card Contest

NEWPORT, RI—This year’s official Annual Newport Holiday Card, at first, is a simple but pleasant Christmas tree.

But take a closer look. If you’re a Newporter, you’ll start to see some familiar landmarks and homages to the City-by-the-Sea hanging from the tree. The Newport Tower. The Claiborne Pell Bridge. The grand facade of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum.

It’s deft and clever and it secured Thompson Middle School seventh-grader Eleni Cooper’s win in the eighth annual Newport Holiday Card Contest.

To honor Eleni’s work of art, Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano presented Eleni with a framed copy of her card and multiple blank cards to mail out to friends and family.

The Newport Holiday Card Contest was started in 2008 by the City of Newport Human Resources Department. They reached out to Alan Bernstein the Supervisor of the Arts at the Newport School Department with their idea of creating student involvement with the official City holiday card. Working with Nicolle Icart, Art Teacher at Thompson Middle School, they created the Newport Holiday Card Contest and it has been growing ever since. Every year the number of submissions grows, making the contest an enduring and festive tradition for students to enjoy.

Mayor Napolitano congratulated all the students for their wonderful artistry. The Newport Holiday Card has been sent to over 350 city employees and related others. Eleni will celebrate her victory with a pizza party at lunch for her and nine of her friends. The winning drawing’s now on display on the bulletin board behind the greeter’s desk at City Hall.

Photo caption: Contest winner, Eleni Cooper, seventh-grader at Thompson Middle School poses with her winning card design along with (from left to right) Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain, sister and Thompson Middle School fifth-grader Pauline Cooper, Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano, her father Jon Cooper and mother Aliki Cooper.