Rye Neck Middle School students earn top recognition in the annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest.

Press Release: November 12, 2022

Lions Announce 2022-23 Peace Poster Contest Winners

Elsa Thorez from The French-American School, Emma Sapperstein from Hommocks Middle School, Nina Heery from Rye Neck Middle School and Estelle Puong from Saints John & Paul School, have taken the first step to becoming an internationally recognized artist by winning the Larchmont Mamaroneck Lions local competition in the Lions International Peace Poster Contest.

In addition to the winners, the following runners-up received honorable mentions: Marina Leifert & Mathilde Auguste from The French American School, Evan Hammer & Abby Andrews from Rye Neck Middle School and Amelie Oddo & Nganji Bardoux-Chesneau from Saints John & Paul School.

These local winners were announced on November 10, 2022, at a special presentation at the Mamaroneck Library. The event was attended by the students, their families, teachers, and dignitaries & guests. County Legislator Catherine Parker presented certificates to the winners and runners up in recognition of their accomplishments. Maryann Joyce, Director of Constituent Services for NY State Senator Shelley Mayer’s office presented the certificates to the winners from both State Senator Shelley Mayer and Assemblyman Steve Otis.

Prizes for winners and runners up were provided by Paul Mahoney from Circle 7 Framing in Larchmont and Jennifer Gomes of One River School in Larchmont. The event was covered by volunteer Sal Ciavarello for LMC Media.

The Lions International Peace Poster Contest is an annual worldwide competition for children 11-13, encouraging them to express their vision of world peace through art, based on a particular theme. This year’s theme was “Lead With Compassion”.

Winners and runners up were selected by a panel of local artists, Amanda Schlumberger, Carey Federspiel and Laura Saravia. The winning posters will advance through the district into the international competition, with the International winner announced at a United Nations event in the spring.

The Lions are proud to have worked with Victoria Rolett from the French-American School, Madelyn Fortuna from Hommocks Middle School, Trisha Appel from Rye Neck Middle School and Angela Howard-Rude from Saints John & Paul School in their efforts to bring this contest to the community and provide these students with the opportunity to share their visions of peace.

The Larchmont Mamaroneck Lions, who will be celebrating their Centennial in 2023, focus on supporting existing non-profit and community service groups by bringing community service leaders together to determine needs, solutions and resources. The LM Lions are part of Lions Clubs International, the world’s largest service organization of nearly 1.5 million members. The Lions signature cause is Vision/Blindness, along with Hunger, the Environment, Diabetes, Childhood Cancer and the future of our Youth. They are signatories of the United Nations resolutions on women’s and refugee rights, and are currently active in Afghanistan & Ukrainian refugee resettlement.

The ceremony was recorded and is available for viewing on LMC's YouTube page.