Caleb Carroll’s eyes widened and a smile spread across his young face when he was announced as the winner of the 2009 TroyFest Student Design contest.

Caleb’s artwork was chosen by the TroyFest Planning Committee to be featured on the 2009 TroyFest tee-shirt that will be sold at the Festival April 25 and 26.

TroyFest is the annual arts and crafts show that is held in downtown Troy. Caleb will be recognized for his achievement at the Festival and will be presented with the first 2009 TroyFest T-shirt.

Vicki Sanders, TroyFest committee member and Student Design Contest chair, made the presentation to Caleb on Thursday at the Cultural Arts Annex Studio where he is an art student.

“We had a lot of really good entries but Caleb’s design was the one that we thought best represented this year’s TroyFest,” Sanders said. “He did outstanding work and he is to be congratulated.”

Caleb had been a finalist in the Student Art Design contest for a couple of years but wasn’t too sure of his chances of winning this year.

“I’ve been real busy this year and didn’t have a lot of time to work on the design,” he said. “I like TroyFest, especially the games, seeing all of the artwork and competing in the contest so I like to enter the design contest.”

Caleb’s design features Byrd Drugs, that is a cornerstone of the downtown square – the focal point of TroyFest. The design also includes a colorful tent, which is symbolic of the arts, crafts and food booths that pack the downtown square area.

“I also put some fireworks in the sky and wrote ‘TroyFest’ inside one of the explosions because TroyFest is a festive event,” Caleb said.

Caleb is a fourth-grader who is home-schooled. His favorite subject is history and he plans to learn more about the history of TroyFest now that his design will soon be a part of that history.

Caleb is the son of Wason and Marilyn Carroll of Troy.