Exequiel Bandoy of Simon Sanchez High School wins the 2018 Congressional Art Competition. He was presented with two roundtrip tickets to Washington D.C. courtesy of United Airlines and a $500 stipend from the Guam Preservation Trust. Joyce Crisostomo, Executive Director, Cars Plus; Joseph E. Quinata, Chief Program Officer, Guam Preservation Trust; Exequiel Bandoy; Mark Duenas, Program Coordinator, Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency; Marissa Del Rosario, Account Manager-Sales Guam and Micronesia, United Airlines.
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, the Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency, and the Guam Preservation Trust announced Exequiel Bandoy as the winner of the 2018 Congressional Art Competition for Guam during an awards ceremony held at Cars Plus. Exequiel is a senior at Simon Sanchez High School under the instruction of Ronald Canos. Exequiel used acrylic paint as his medium and his artwork is entitled “Longing for Home.”
Exequiel competed with nearly 30 other high school artists from six public and private schools on island. His piece will be displayed in U.S. Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. for one year. The submitted artworks were on display for the last two weeks in the Cars Plus Hyundai Showroom in Maite and were judged by a panel of local artists. As the winner of the Congressional Arts Competition for Guam, Exequiel received two roundtrip tickets to Washington D.C. courtesy of United Airlines as well as a $500 stipend from the Guam Preservation Trust to attend the artist reception and award ceremony.
The Congressional Art Competition is a nation-wide annual high school arts competition sponsored by the Congressional Institute and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition began in 1982.
“The judges of this year’s Congressional Art Competition had a very difficult job choosing the winner,” said Congresswoman Bordallo. “Each artist submitted wonderful artwork that beautifully depicted historic and cultural scenes from around Guam. I am proud of every student who took the time to participate in the competition and I congratulate Exequiel Bandoy as this year’s winner. I look forward to having the displayed in the U.S. Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. where it will be seen by the millions of visitors who tour the Capitol throughout the year.”