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Gabrielle Wenske, of Victoria, takes top honors at Treasures of the Texas Coast Children’s Art Contest

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AUSTIN — Victoria 11-year-old Gabrielle Wenske's image of a surf shack on a Texas beach won grand prize in the General Land Office's 2011 Treasures of the Texas Coast Children's Art Contest. 

"The colors in Gabrielle's art really jumped out, and the message ‘Trashing Texas Beaches Isn't Cool' comes through loud and clear," said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who picked the winning entry from the more than 6,544 entries. 

Gabrielle's artwork will soon grace the cover of next year's Texas General Land Office Children's Art Contest calendar. The fifth-grader also wins two round-trip, coach-class tickets from Continental Airlines to any Continental destination in the 48 contiguous United States; one 7-night Caribbean cruise from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines departing out of Galveston, Miami, or Ft. Lauderdale; and a class party at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels. 

Gabrielle's mother and art teacher at Our Lady of Victoria School in Victoria, Mary Wenske, also wins two round-trip coach-class tickets from Continental Airlines, and one 7-night Caribbean cruise courtesy of Royal Caribbean Cruises. 

A total of 39 other students from across Texas earned honors for artwork depicting their love for the Texas coast. All 40 finalists will receive a ticket to the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, two all-day passes to Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels, two tickets to the permanent exhibit hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, prizes and a certificate of recognition from the Texas General Land Office and a calendar displaying the winning artwork.  

The judges picked 10 winners in each of the four categories: kindergarten, first-grade and second-grade, third-grade and fourth-grade, and fifth-grade and sixth-grade. Gabrielle's grand prize entry was selected from the list of finalists. 

This year's contest sponsors are Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Continental Airlines, Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels, the Texas State Aquarium and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.The winning entries of the 2011 Treasures of the Texas Coast Children's Art Contest will be on display in the Capitol's Rotunda from 5 p.m. on Friday, May 27^th until 2 p.m. on Friday, June 3^rd.  All of the finalists' artwork can be viewed at the Adopt-A-Beach website at www.texasadoptabeach.org.

The annual contest is organized through the Texas General Land Office's Adopt-A-Beach program. This year's Spring Cleanup is scheduled to take place on April 30 at 29 sites along the Texas coast. 

The contest began in 1996 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Adopt-A-Beach program. The annual competition encourages Texas students to learn more about the Texas coast and express what they have learned in their art.  

For more information on the Treasures of the Texas Coast 2010 Children's Art Contest, please contact the Texas General Land Office at 1-877-TXCOAST or visit our website at www.texasadoptabeach.org. 

The following students were selected as finalists for the 2011 Treasures of the Texas Coast Children's Art Contest:

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