Winona girl matches sister's award in art contest

Grace Going's entry
This May 29, 2013 photo shows Grace Going's entry to the Lions International Peace Poster contest in Winona, Minn. Grace Going, 13, was one of 23 students to win a merit award in this year's Lions International Peace Poster contest. Her entry was one of more than 400,000. Just a year earlier, her sister Hannah won the same merit award in the contest.
AP Photo/The Winona Daily News

WINONA, Minn. (AP) -- If there were any doubt that artistic ability ran in the Going family, it's gone now.

Grace Going, 13, was one of 23 students to win a merit award in this year's Lions International Peace Poster contest. Her entry was one of more than 400,000. Just a year earlier, her sister Hannah won the same merit award in the contest, the Winona Daily News reported.

"It definitely feels good," Grace said, "considering all of the students and entries that were in the contest."

The theme for this year's contest was "Imagine Peace," and Grace based her design on the ideas and imagination people get from reading books. In her drawing, made with a "special box of colored pencils," she said, Grace placed an open book in front of a black background, with doves symbolizing peace morphing out of the pages of the book and fluttering upward.

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"What's better than the book coming to life through the doves?" Grace said.

Grace Going
In this May 29, 2013 photo, St. Martin's Lutheran School eighth-grader Grace Going poses in Winona, Minn. Grace Going, 13, was one of 23 students to win a merit award in this year's Lions International Peace Poster contest. Her entry was one of more than 400,000. Just a year earlier, her sister Hannah won the same merit award in the contest.
AP Photo/The Winona Daily News, Andrew Link

Grace received more than $500 as a prize, along with a certificate of achievement.

Grace's father, Glenn Going, said he's proud of his daughter -- especially after going up against her sister in past years of the competition.

"Grace had a great idea and delivered it well," Glenn said. "She earned it. I'm doubly proud of Grace."

Glenn said the family is looking forward to seeing if it could happen a third time when Grace and Hannah's younger sister, Caity, is eligible to compete.

"She's definitely got the ability," Glenn said. "But it's all about the motivation."