Staff writer
Kerri Silbaugh, an eighth-grader at John F. Kennedy Catholic School, was the national winner among eighth-grade entrants in the Heinz Ketchup Creativity Contest.
The ketchup packet designed by Kerri, 14, was one of 36 finalists chosen from 45,000 by artist Burton Morris. She bested two contestants from her grade in online voting that closed in late March.
"I wouldn't have really won without everyone taking time and going online to vote," said Kerri, who learned of her win last weekend. "I was just really excited, and I still am. I couldn't have won without them."
She joins Nathan Doverspike, a Highlands High School 10th-grader from Natrona Heights, as the first Pennsylvania winners in the contest.
In announcing the contest results, the e-mail read, "America has voted and 12 students squeeze out victory with winning Heinz Ketchup packet designs."
There was one winner for grades one through 12.
The company plans to produce 200 million ketchup packets with the winners' artwork during the 2009-10 school year. The students will receive a $1,000 cash prize, and their schools will receive $1,000 toward art supplies, a poster of the winning design and $1,000 worth of Heinz ketchup.
Kerri entered through the Monart School of Art, Washington, and is a daughter of Douglas and Cathy Silbaugh of East Washington.
Karen Price, former art instructor at JFK and owner of the Monart School, said, "I can use $1,000 worth of materials for my school."
The $1,000 worth of ketchup is another thing.
"I'm not a school school," she said Tuesday. "I'm going to donate it. I asked JFK, and they said they probably wouldn't need all of it. The food bank could use the ketchup."
Price said she was told 92,000 votes were cast online in the Ketchup Creativity contest.
The artwork will appear on packets throughout schools, restaurants and other food service outlets, a Heinz spokeswoman said.