Brandywine High School came out on top in a competition with Niles High School to create artwork for the Niles Family Carnival and Bluegrass Festival this spring.

Festival organizer TJ Martin said he started the new competition as a way to generate more community involvement in the festival.

“It is an event for everyone,” said Martin. “I’ve seen the community disengage from the (Bluegrass) festival for reasons I don’t know, but I want to bring that engagement back. I want more family involvement and more community involvement.

“With two high schools in the area, I thought why not get a friendly competition going?”

A panel of five judges consisting of artists from the Michiana area chose from around a dozen pieces of artwork created by Niles High School and Brandywine High School students.

Two pieces of art were chosen last week. One will be used to create a T-shirt for the festival, while the other will be used on a promotional poster.

The judges chose art made by Brandywine students for both the T-shirt and the poster.

The work of Karen Roman and Kaylee Chambers was chosen for the poster, while the work of Courtney Meyers and Shaylee Smith was chosen for the T-shirt.

Martin said some adjustments would be made to each piece of art in order for it to best fit a poster or T-shirt.

More than 100 T-shirts and posters will be created in advance of the festival, which is scheduled for May 28-31 in Niles.

Student art will also be on display and available for purchase at the festival.