Lin C. Parker, a longtime writer/page designer with the Times Free Press, conceived the idea for a holiday gift wrapping contest for school-age students in 2002, and she lovingly oversaw it until her death in September 2017.
It was renamed the Lin C. Parker Wrapping Paper Design Contest in her memory last year. This year’s contest, open to students in grades 1-5, begins today, with the deadline for entry at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21. The winning design will be printed in the newspaper.
Contest information
› Who can enter: Any elementary school student in grades 1-5. One entry per child.› Deadline: Entries must be received by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21.› Grand prize: The winner will receive a cash prize of $25 plus an arts package and goody bag from co-sponsors ArtsBuild, Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block and Creative Discovery Museum.› Entry format: Use an 8 1/2- by 11-inch piece of unlined paper. Entry should have the child’s name, age, address, telephone number, grade and school printed on the back. A teacher’s name is also helpful.› Mail or hand-deliver to: Wrapping Paper Contest, Chattanooga Times Free Press, 400 E. 11th St., Chattanooga TN 37403.› Information: Call Sara Jackson at 423-757-6594 or email her at saraj@timesfreepress.com.Helpful hints:› Be original.› Use bright colors.› Fill the entire page.› Choose paint, crayon, chalk, markers or pens, construction paper or other creative materials.
Last year’s winner was Ben Alverson, then a 9-year-old third-grader at Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts. The son of Jim and Stacy Alverson featured a pastel painting of four ornaments. He said he went through four changes before settling on the winning formula. One early design had characters battling with Nerf guns and later with snowballs.
“I was going to draw penguins, but they were kind of messy and it was hard to repeat them,” he said.
His mother, an art teacher at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, offered some advice, the same reminder she gives all her students who participate in the contest: “Think about the repeating patterns on the page.”
The contest is co-sponsored by the Times Free Press, Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block and the Creative Discovery Museum.
An artist herself, Parker loved opening the hundreds of entries that poured into the paper, and she would carefully tape each one onto the glass walls in the Times Free Press newsroom. The walls then became art pieces, creating a festive spirit for employees and visitors.
Local artists, newspaper staff and members of ArtsBuild will select 10 finalists from the entries received. Readers can view the finalists and vote in a Readers’ Choice contest and at timesfreepress.com. The finalists’ works will be displayed at the Creative Discovery Museum.
The winning design will be used to print a full newsprint page, which will be included in the Sunday paper Dec. 9. Readers can wrap gifts with that page of original artwork.
Copies also will be available at the Kids on the Block wrapping stations at Hamilton Place mall through Christmas Eve.