This December, St. Louisans lend a helping hand to the annual holiday charity campaign called the 100 Neediest Cases. The 100 neediest cases campaign started in 1922 when civic leaders provided dinner and toys for those in need. What takes place within the campaign is social service agencies work with the United Way and identify needy families. The United Way of Greater St. Louis and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch have partnered for more than five decades on this campaign, for St. Louis Post-Dispatch features 100 cases in the paper yearly. Last year, the campaign raised 1.3 million dollars.
While the campaign is famous for helping families, it is also a much-anticipated annual series in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for all of the beautiful original drawings featured alongside the stories. Brentwood High School often has student artists whose artwork is chosen, this year being no exception.
The 100 Neediest Cases art contest was first introduced to Brentwood students in 2008. Different students at Brentwood put in their own creative pieces of art for the campaign. The art department took a break from submitting contest entries around 2010 but started it up again in 2015. How the contest works is that students draw something that they feel reflects a problem our world is facing today. The artwork can be about anything, ranging from homelessness, people in hospitals, single parents, domestic violence, veterans, and the elderly, too.
Student submissions are judged by professionals and get ranked. The top ranked illustrations then get matched up with the neediest cases that are going to run in the paper. This year’s students who participated are: Katelyn Kimmel, who was ranked at 11th place, Hayden Bender, who was ranked in 12th, Domonique Taylor in 13th, Hannah Murphy in 23rd, Camile Beck in 25th, Nick Moran in 26th, Kailah Beck in 29th, Nola Buehler in 31st, and Lydia El-Hashem in 37th.
Everyone did outstanding work with their art! Head on over to the St. Louis Dispatch to see their artwork and read the stories.
Click through this slideshow to see all of their artwork!
