Lauren Johnson, a fifth grader at Covenant Christian School in Troy, has been named the winner of the TroyFest Student Art Contest for 2010.

Her design will be the TroyFest design for this year’s T-shirt that will be sold at TroyFest April 24 and 25 on the square in downtown Troy.

The Student Art Contest is an annual TroyFest activity and all students in grades one through five throughout the county are invited to participate, said Vicki Sanders, contest chair.

“The students really get involved, and it’s a contest that the kids are starting to ask about,” Sanders said. “We had some great entries, and it was hard to pick a winner.”

Four finalists were selected this year, Lindsey Fox, Troy Elementary School; Jensen Garrett, Pike Liberal Arts School; Cheyenne Calhoun, Banks Primary School; and Caleb Carroll, home school.

Lauren’s designed featured a colorful ice cream cone that she said is much like the ice cream cones she gets at Dairy Queen.

“When I was thinking about a design, I thought about ice cream because I always get ice cream at TroyFest,” she said. “I like vanilla best, but I wanted to add color so I made the ice cream pink. And, it has a little swirl on the top like the ice cream at Dairy Queen.”

The diamond-design cone is also much like the wrapper on the Dairy Queen ice cream cones, Lauren said.

Lauren enjoys looking at all the artwork at TroyFest because she loves to draw.

“I like looking at the jewelry, too, but the thing that I thought about most was ice cream,” she said with a smile. “Having my design on a T-shirt will be awesome. I’m excited.”

Lauren’s mom, Jill Johnson, said Lauren loves to draw and spends a lot of time with a pencil in hand.

“We really appreciate having opportunities like the TroyFest Student Art Contest where she can share her love of art,” Johnson said.

Sanders said the TroyFest T-shirts featuring Lauren’s design will be on sale at TroyFest in youth sizes, $10 and adult sizes, $12.

“Her original design will also be featured at the Troy Student Art Show at the Johnson Center for the Arts during TroyFest,” Sanders said. “We are proud to be able to offer the Student Art Contest as part of the TroyFest activities as a way to involve our students and showcase their talents.”

Sanders said the TroyFest Student Art Contest started several years ago as an alternative to the poster promotion for the Jean Lake Festival, which is now TroyFest.

“The ‘Best of Show’ at the Troy City Student Art Show was used on the poster but we decided to print T-shirts for TroyFest and that idea has worked well,” she said.