Photo courtesy of ARTEFFECT/Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
ARTEFFECT, an initiative of the Lowell Milken Family Foundation and Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC), has named a Bronx student from Horace Mann High School in the Fieldston section of The Bronx, among 34 winners in the recent 10th annual ARTEFFECT competition.
The international competition invited students in Grades 6-12 to explore and champion the stories of LMC Unsung Heroes. LMC officials said “Unsung Heroes” are role models from history, largely unrecognized by society, who demonstrated extraordinary heroic traits and actions in service to others and made a positive and profound impact on the course of history.
They said their diverse stories span centuries and cut across multiple disciplines including education, civil rights, innovation, healthcare, STEAM, and wartime history. They said students creatively interpreted the inspiring stories of such Unsung Heroes through original works of art accompanied by artists’ impact statements. In total, $37,250 in prize money across multiple categories was awarded to 34 winners in the middle and high school divisions of the 2025 competition.
The “$3,000 High School Best in Show” prize was awarded to Lauren Kim, an 11th Grade student at Horace Mann. According to the event organizers, Kim’s relief sculpture entitled “Vivid Resilience,” which she created with clay and acrylic paint on a wood panel, honors civil rights activist and teacher, Clara Luper.
“The outlawing of segregation in 1964 was a collective, momentous effort that largely came into being through the persistent action of grassroots organizations, and persevering will of the people,” Kim’s impact statement reads. “Especially as a student who loves history, art, and culture, I am constantly reminded that in order to coexist, we must always take our time to learn about the people.”
Her statement continued, “Who are the people who represent this beautiful art and culture? Who are the faces behind this historical movement? Humans are social, empathetic beings, something which Luper recognized and sought to communicate to others.”
According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, Luper was born on May 3, 1923, in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, the daughter of Ezell and Isabell Shepard. She married Charles P. Wilson and had three children, Calvin, Marilyn Luper Hildreth, and Chelle Marie. In 1944, Luper received a bachelor’s degree from Langston University and later attained a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1951.
Photo courtesy of ARTEFFECT/Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
She was the first African American admitted to the graduate history program in the University of Oklahoma and later taught history and public relations at Dunjee High School in Spencer, Oklahoma, and at John Marshall and Classen High Schools in Oklahoma City. While teaching, Luper wrote, directed, and produced “Brother President,” a play based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. For read more about Luper, click here.
Dr. Toni Guglielmo, ARTEFFECT executive director, said through the focus on Unsung Heroes, young artists make critical connections between the past, present, and future, and come to recognize their own potential to stimulate positive change in the world. “The annual competition invites a range of mediums and artistic expressions,” he said. “These award-winning projects convey the historical significance of their subjects in burgeoning contemporary styles. We applaud the amazing achievements of the 2025 winners.”
Among other top prize winners was Jia (Jina) Zhao, an 11th grade student at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bellevue, Washington, who earned the $6,000 Grand Prize.
Zhao’s acrylic painting, called “Duty Among Blaze,” depicts Unsung Hero James Braidwood, a Scottish firefighter known for establishing the first municipal fire service and implementing innovative techniques to combat fires in the 19th century. “The scene in this painting is based on the Great Fire of Edinburgh in November 1824, a major disaster that James Braidwood and his newly established fire brigade bravely fought and eventually overcame to save the city’s residents,” Zhao explains in her impact statement.
LMC officials said her painting illustrates the intensity of Braidwood’s firefighting profession and pays homage to his steadfast leadership. “As I painted his determined expression and the intense fire scene around him, I kept thinking about how he stayed calm and focused under pressure,” Zhao said. “That made me ask myself: How do I respond when things get difficult?”
Photo courtesy of ARTEFFECT/Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
Lowell Milken, founder of ARTEFFECT and the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes said the ARTEFFECT competition is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for young people to consider, interpret, and create original works of art about Unsung Heroes and the invaluable lessons their heroic deeds exemplify. “The voices and collective impact of the students participating in ARTEFFECT are proof positive that celebrating the qualities of character embodied in Unsung Heroes can generate these qualities in younger generations,” he said.
Another New York winner was Grace Zhang, an eighth grade student from Jericho Middle School on Long Island, who won the $1,000 Middle School Second Place prize for “Bus Ride to Equality,” a gouache painting that features Unsung Hero Irene Morgan.
According to Wiktionary, the term “gouache” refers to a type of paint, an opaque watercolor, and can also be used to describe the artwork created with this paint. “Irene Morgan’s impact on the civil rights movement has been overlooked but was very crucial, helping launch the Montgomery Bus Boycott and inspiring figures such as Rosa Parks to act against segregation,” Zhang wrote in her impact statement. “Irene Morgan glancing at the doves represents her main goal, to achieve equality and peace.”
Photo courtesy of ARTEFFECT/Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
The ARTEFFECT judging panel consisted of LMC’s executive leadership as well as visual arts experts across the curatorial, educational, and graphic design fields. Award winners received cash prizes, and their projects are showcased on LMC’s website, listed along with their sponsoring teachers. Award-winning artworks are also featured in ARTEFFECT exhibitions.
Participation in the ARTEFFECT annual competition is free and open to all youth in grades 6-12. The 2026 ARTEFFECT competition will open for submissions in October 2025. Visit the ARTEFFECT website for more information.
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