Local middle schooler nabs Bideawee art award

Woodland Middle School student, Sarah Chavez-Olaya was recently named one of the five winners of Bideawee’s “Love Your Pet” art contest.

The sixth-grader drew a picture of her rescue dog Lola, which her family and she had just recently adopted from Bideawee. Lola is an Australian Shepherd and Labrador-mix puppy and the drawing featured her with a toy in her mouth.

“We had been looking for a dog for a while. We knew we wanted a rescue. My aunt told us new puppies were coming into Bideawee so we went out the application for the dog,” Sarah said. “When we met her we fell in love with her.”

“We were looking for pets all over Long Island but as soon as we saw Lola we knew,” Denise Olaya, Sarah’s mother said.

Bideawee, located in Wantagh, is one of the country’s oldest and most well-known animal welfare and pet adoption organizations. They’ve held this art competition annually for the past 13 years. The contest is open to students in grades 1-12 and the prizes are awarded in five groups: grades 1 and 2, grades 3 and 4, grades 5 and 6, grades 7 and 8, and grades 9-12. Sarah won in the grades 5 and 6 category.

“My aunt works at Bideawee and she told me about the contest because she knows I’m interested in art. A week after school after doing my homework I would work on the drawing,” Olaya said. I printed out the picture of my dog and I drew it on a grid and then I drew my dog with a pencil and for the toy I did colored pencils.”

The contest gives students the opportunity to appreciate and draw their pets and show off their creativity and artistic ability. They were allowed to do any medium of art they wanted including drawings, sculpture and photography. Winners received a $100 Visa gift card.

“I love doing art,” Olaya said. “My mom is a jewelry designer and my dad is an architect so it’s been built into me ever since I was little.”

The winners were selected by public vote. The winning artwork featured dogs, cats and fish.

“When she won, we shared the drawing with all of our friends,” Denise Olaya said. “Everyone was excited too because before we adopted our dog we asked our friends to help us name her.”

“The human-animal bond is strong and the relationship kids have with their pets is so special,” said Leslie Granger, CAWA, President and CEO of Bideawee. “This was the first year our contest was nationwide and we were delighted to have received submissions from across the country -- and the world! Congratulations to Talya, Valerie, Sarah, Juliana, and Hailey. Your stunning artwork truly captures how much you treasure your pets.”