The Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition has announced the winners of its annual Crane-inspired Creative Arts Scholarship Contest, an effort that strives to raise awareness for greater sandhill cranes in the younger generation.

Winning first place honors were Beck Honebein in the written arts category and Ella Piret in the visual arts category. Each received a $3,000 scholarship for their work.

In second place were Taylor Graham in the written arts category and Dominic Talamantes in the visual arts category, and each of them received a $1,500 scholarship. Additionally, Caroline Landers received honorable mention in the visual arts category and $1,000 scholarship.

The contest is open to all high school seniors in Routt and Moffat counties, and the 2023 contest offered two categories with the written arts including nonfictional essays, fictional stories or a group of poems, and the visual arts category featuring paintings, sketches, photographs and digital art.   

The work had to be original and accurately reflect the physical characteristics, behavior and habitat of the Rocky Mountain greater sandhill cranes. The $10,000 in scholarship money was made available by a donor.