MADISON – Students in Madison City Schools compiled notable awards in the Alabama PTA Reflections contest.

MCS earned approximately 33 percent of all awards from the Alabama PTA. In addition, 28 percent of the first-place winners advanced to competition at the national level.

Madison Board of Education recognized first-place finishers in Reflections:

* Alice Grieve — Madison Elementary School, Intermediate Photography.

* Benjamin Wortham — Liberty Middle School, Special Artist – Middle School Photography.

* Caroline Streling — Discovery Middle School, Middle School Literature.

* Aparna Bhooshanan — Bob Jones High School, High School Literature.

* Koume Yonemura — Columbia Elementary School, Dance Choreography – Primary.

* Laya Gowder — Heritage Elementary School, Dance Choreography – Intermediate.

* Oviya Gowder — Liberty, Dance Choreography – Middle.

In addition to volunteers at each school, coordinators for collecting and judging Reflections submissions included Julie Streling, who chaired the MCS PTA Reflections campaign, and P.J. Batchelor with MCS PTA Council.

Judges for the Reflections projects were experienced artists who evaluated the students’ work for its interpretation of theme, creativity and technique.

In the Dance Choreography category, Reflections will accept solo and ensemble works of all dance styles; the entrant must be the choreographer and performer (or one of the performers). For Film Production, the accepted short-film styles include animation, narrative, documentary, experimental or media; video file must not exceed five minutes and one gigabyte in size.

Literature submissions can be fiction and nonfiction, including prose, poetry, reflective essay, screenplay and play script, narrative and short story; the work cannot exceed 2,000 words. For Music Composition, all music styles and combinations of instrumentation are accepted; the entrant must be the composer and can be one of the performers.

The Photography category allows single print or digital image; the photographer can use various digital editing techniques, such as multiple exposure, negative sandwich and photogram. For visual arts, the artwork can be both fine and design, including architectural drawing and models, ceramics, collage, computer-generated images and graphics, crafts, fashion clothes and jewelry, fiber work, mixed media, painting, printmaking and sculpture.

For more information, visit pta.org/home/programs/reflections.