30 Artists from High Schools Across Southern California Receive Top Honor

LOS ANGELES (February 26, 2007) - The Music Center of Los Angeles County has announced the 30 high school student artists in photography and two-dimensional art who have been named semi-finalists in the 2007 Music Center Spotlight Awards Visual Arts competition. (Complete list follows).

All semi-finalists will have their work shown at the Bobbie Greenfield Gallery in Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, where the winners will be announced at a special reception to be held on March 11, 2007.

More than 760 high school students submitted original artwork for this year's Spotlight Awards Visual Arts program. The submissions were reviewed by leading artists and arts professionals who considered the technical expertise involved in each work including its craft and visual quality and also analyzed how effectively the works expanded artistic boundaries and demonstrated artistic sensitivity and vision.

To select the winners, a panel of renowned artists and arts professionals will meet with each semi-finalist to review and discuss their work. Winners are selected in both photography and two-dimensional art. First place in each category receives $6,000; second place receives $3,000; and five honorable mentions receive $250. All semi-finalists receive $100. In addition, winners will be presented with trophies during the Music Center Spotlight Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on April 14, 2007.

The Music Center Spotlight Awards program was established in 1988 and is one of the nation's most acclaimed performing and visual arts educational programs for teens. Fredric M. Roberts is founding chairman of the Music Center Spotlight Awards; Dennis Beck is chairman and Walter Grauman creator/executive producer. The program is a project of the Fraternity of Friends, a volunteer membership organization of men who support the Music Center.

Bank of America is the Principal Sponsor of the Music Center Spotlight Awards. The program is also supported by HUB International/Kagan-Kozberg, the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation, the California Community Foundation, the Lee Graff Foundation, the Dorothy B. Chandler Program Fund, Eloise C. Goodhew Barnett, the Carsey Family Foundation, the James B. Pendelton Foundation, the Clair and Theodore Morse Foundation, and The Lucille Ellis Simon Foundation. The Walter Lantz Foundation is the Visual Arts Competition Sponsor. The visual arts reception is sponsored by Harmon International. Helen and Peter Bing provide scholarship awards for winners and runners-up in performing arts categories.

For more information about the Music Center Spotlight Awards program, call 213-972-3300 or visit musiccenter.org.

2007 SPOTLIGHT AWARD VISUAL ARTS SEMI-FINALISTS Listed by county, name, age, grade, school name, specialty

2-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN

LOS ANGELES COUNTY Aanchal Anand, 17 11th, South Pasadena High School Drawing Sasha Engelmann, 18 12th, Palisades Charter High School Painting Darya Farhoodi, 18 12th, Santa Monica High School Mixed Media Damaris Garcia, 18 12th, Belmont Senior High School Drawing Katrina Hales, 16 10th, Santa Fe High School Drawing Ann Leese, 18 12th, Arroyo Pacific Academy Mixed Media Alexa Lombardo, 17 11th, Mira Costa High School Painting Erin Mitchell, 18 12th, Mayfield Senior School Of the Holy Child Jesus Painting Ariana Papademetropoulos, 16 11th, LA Co. High School for the Arts Mixed Media Ellen Surrey, 18 12th, Crescenta Valley Senior High School Art Painting Tiana Tucker, 18 12th, LA Co. High School for the Arts Painting Ran Zhang, 17 11th, Santa Monica High School Painting ORANGE COUNTY Jenny Xie, 17 11th, Irvine High School Painting Duke Choi, 17 12th, Sonora High School Mixed Media Samantha Ryder, 16 11th, Orange Co. High School of the Arts Painting

PHOTOGRAPHY

Hannah Bender, 16 11th, Brentwood High School Traditional Film Elina Carpenter, 18 12th, Marlborough High School Traditional Film William Carroll, 18 12th, Agoura High School Digital Ian Cervantes, 18 12th, Burroughs High School Traditional Film Britney Cherry, 17 12th, Valley Christian High School Digital Caroline Cuse, 16 11th, Marlborough High School Digital Cassandra Giraldo, 17 12th, Buckley High School Traditional Film Nora Lang, 14 9th, Immaculate Heart High School Traditional Film Eunice Lau, 16 11th, Beckman High School Digital Wendy Montero, 16 11th, Fairfax Senior High School Traditional Film Katherine O'Brien, 17 12th, Burroughs High School Digital Catherine Williams, 16 11th, Harvard-Westlake High School Digital Brandon Ybarra, 17 12th, Agoura High School Digital SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY Kayla Saavedra, 17 11th, Apple Valley High School Digital SAN DIEGO COUNTY Cayla Casares, 17 12th, El Camino High School Digital