Veterans Creative Arts Competition

Our 2024 call for entries has now closed. Check out this year's results below along with some pictures!

Over 4,800 entries were submitted at the national level and will move through the national judging process. These are from nearly 2,000 Veterans across the united states. National results are expected to be released in early January 2025.

If you'd like to receive updates and information about next year's Veteran's Creative Arts Competition, please sign up for our e-mail blast list below.

VISUAL ARTS

Acrylic Painting

1st - Albert Wolf - “Lolo”

2nd - Patricia Middleton - “Rain Delay”

3rd - John Keaton - “A Romance of Glittering Gold”

Oil Painting/Pastel

1st - Joyce McKee - “Lost Not Forgot”

Watercolor

1st - Lisa Nastasi - “Blue Flowers in Blue Vase”

2nd - Albert Wolf - “Friends”

Monochromatic Drawing

1st - John Keaton - “Forest Friends”

2nd - Randolph Cockrell - “Escape from Dark Heights”

Colored Drawing

1st - Randolph Cockrell - “Brandon and Wess Chillen on Planet Name K”

Pottery

1st - Adrian Weiss - “Volute Krater”

Stained or Painted Figurines

1st - Lisa Nastasi - “Peacock Bowl”

2nd - Joyce McKee - “Varoom”

Transfer/Engraving Kit

1st - Debora Rankin - “Buck in Flight”

Black & White Photography

1st - Barbara Gilbert - “The Law”

2nd - Ronald Susi - “Cecil Calvert”

Colored Photography

1st - E. Renee Simmons - “Rainbow”

2nd - Barbara Gilbert - “Hard at Work”

3rd - Lenny Francioni - “Dawn’s Early Light”

Carving

1st - Carrie Howell - “NANIQ”

Collage

1st - Lisa Nastasi - “Lisa’s Collage”

2nd - Patricia Hill - “Candid Vulnerability”

Mosaic Kit

1st - Debora Rankin - “American Bald Eagle”

Crocheting/Knitting/Knotting

1st - Leslie Fagan - “Tote for the Mind”

Needlework

1st - Karen Middleton - “Leo the Lion”

Needlework Kit

1st - Erin Bartholomew - “Betsy Ross Pin Cushion Doll”

Original Design in Fiber Arts

1st - Clarence Williams - “Esoteric”

Glasswork

1st - Joyce McKee - “In Bloom”

Mixed Media

1st - Karen Middleton - “Shells”

2nd - Nicole Spencer - “Nicocita”

3rd - E. Renee Simmons - “Honey Jar”

Color by Number Kit

1st - Rosalind Gray - “Chloe”

Combined Kit

1st - Debora Rankin - “Welcome Friends”

Special Recognition – MH Challenges

1st - Randolph Cockrell - “PTSD”

2nd - Tisa Brown - “London is Dancing”

3rd - Patricia Hill - “When You Have Nothing Else”

CREATIVE WRITING

Rhyming Poetry – Military Experience

1st - Lesley Fagan - “Gold Star”

2nd - Jeffrey Morrison - “Red Sand”

Rhyming Poetry – Inspirational

1st - Darin Niemiec - “Taken”

Rhyming Poetry – General Topic

1st - Jennifer Ellington - “Half Moon”

2nd - Terrica Duncan - “Him”

Non-Rhyming Poetry – Military Experience

1st - Ryan Davidson - “R”

2nd - Abbey Ketterling - “The Lies I Was Told”

Non-Rhyming Poetry - Inspirational

1st - Ricardo Batiz - “Allow Me to Depart While The Sun Still Out

2nd - Stevie Taylor - “Survival”

3rd - Tisa Brown - “The Women’s Preamble”

Non-Rhyming Poetry – General Topic

1st - Lesley Fagan - “Haiku Reflections on a Nature Walk”

2nd - Moira McGuire - “The Lodging”

3rd - Terrica Duncan - “Colored Mainstay”

Personal Essay – Military Experience

1st - Nicole Spencer “Airborne School”

Personal Essay – Inspirational

1st - Patricia Hill - “Courage”

2nd - Francis Schoolfield - “A Few Worlds For Charles”

Personal Essay – General Topic

1st - Leslie Lyles - “Lies, Brain Fog and Air Pollution”

2nd - Lesley Fagan - “Cosmopolitan Jewel”

Short Short Story

1st - Ryan Davidson - “Lord of the Dark Waters”

DRAMA

Inspirational Prose

1st - Tisa Brown - “Tisa’s Preamble”

Comedy Prose

1st - Butch Bohle - “VA Stand-Up Comedian”\

Inspirational Poetry

1st - Tisa Brown - “My Affirmation”

Interpretive Performance – Dramatic

1st - James Milarcik - “Thisbe’s Death Scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

MUSIC

Vocal Solo Country/Folk/Bluegrass

1st - Stevie Taylor - “You Are My Sunshine”

Vocal Solo Pop

1st - Stevie Taylor - “What’s Up”

2nd - Rose Matchett - “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”

Vocal Solo Rock/Blues

1st - Reginald Thomas - “Every Day I Have the Blues”

Vocal Classical/World/Ethnic

1st - Josh Rodriguez - “Ehu Girl by Kolohe Kai”

Vocal Solo Jazz

1st - Reginald Thomas - “When I Fall in Love”

Vocal R&B/Soul/Funk

1st - Reginald Thomas - “My Girl”

2nd - Rose Matchett - “You Are So Beautiful”

Vocal Broadway

1st - James Milarcik - “Wilkommen”

Vocal Patriotic

1st - E. Renee Simmons - “Star Spangled Banner”

Vocal Spiritual

1st - E. Renee Simmons - “Above All”

2nd - Stevie Taylor - “Amazing Grace”

Original Vocal – General Topic

1st - Duane Economos - “I Hate My Hair”

2nd - E. Renee Simmons - “As Beautiful As a Yellow Rose”

3rd - Darin Niemiec - “A Night Without Rain”

Special Recognition

1st - Tisa Brown - “Give Me One Reason”

The National Veteran's Creative Arts Competition & Festival is a national VA event that happens each year to showcase and celebrate the creative talents of our nations Veterans and recognize the importance of the creative arts and creative arts therapies in the wellness, rehabilitation, and recovery of our nation's Veterans. This includes the opportunity to share creative works in 5 different divisions:

ART

MUSIC

DANCE

DRAMA

CREATIVE WRITING

Local creative arts competition finalists advance to a national judging process and first, second, and third place entries are determined at the national level. First place winning Veterans are typically invited to attend the National Veteran's Creative Arts Festival, hosted by a different VA facility each year.

The VA Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS) Veterans Creative Arts Competition is the local portion of the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival and helps to determine which local entries will be forwarded to the national level of competition.

Veterans must be selected as a finalist at their local level of competition in order to be included in the national level of competition.

Since 2022 the VAMHCS Veteran's Creative Arts Competition Showcase has been hosted by the Maryland State Fair in the 4H/FFA Home Arts Building.

Veteran artwork is typically on display to the public throughout the duration of the fair, but one day is chosen to serve as the formal showcase. On this date Veteran participants, family, and friends come together to celebrate our Veteran's accomplishments. This includes an art display, stage show, and awards ceremony. At this event, our Veteran participants have the opportunity to speak with both their fellow Veteran's and attendees from the public about their creative work and why it's so important.

The VAMHCS Veterans Creative Arts Competition is open to any Veteran enrolled for care in the VA Maryland Health Care System.

If you are not yet enrolled, you can do so here: Register For Care | VA Maryland Health Care | Veterans Affairs.

Veterans are not required to be actively receiving care in order to participate, but you must be enrolled in the system.

Competition entries for the VAMHCS Veteran's Creative Arts Competition are typically due in mid-summer.

The POC for the Maryland VA Veteran's Creative Arts Competition is Kelsey Eisenhauer. Contact info below. You can also use the button above to be added to the VAMHCS NVCAF e-mail list. Submission information typically becomes available around late spring.

E-mail: kelsey.eisenhauer@va.gov or VAMHCSRCATS@va.gov

Phone: 410-585-4477

Entries are accepted in the 5 divisions of Art, Music, Dance, Drama and Creative Writing. There are no restrictions on creative ability/skill. Veterans are typically limited to 3 entries per division, and 1 per category within that division. (Ex. Art (division) - B&W photography (category), Pottery (category), Paint-by-Number Kit (category). There are over 100 categories to submit in across all 5 divisions!

Each division has rules regarding what can and cannot be submitted for competition. If your piece does not qualify for the competition, it may still be considered as a non-competition (un-judged) entry.

In order to submit an entry to the local competition, each Veteran will complete 1 entry form for each entry, 1 consent form, and submit their entry piece (ex. dropping off artwork, submitting writing piece, completing a recording of performance). Some categories require an additional consent form and short writeup. All entry forms can be requested by contacting Kelsey Eisenhauer via e-mail at kelsey.eisenhauer@va.gov.

After submission, all entries will be judged at the local level and then included in a local showcase. Since 2022, the VAMHCS has held our annual local showcase in the 4H/FFA Home Arts Building at the Maryland State Fair. At this event, Veteran artwork will be on display, writers and performers will have the opportunity to share their works through a stage show, and Veteran participants have the opportunity to connect with showcase attendees and their fellow creative peers.

Local 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning entries are submitted to the national level of judging in late September. National results are typically released in late December, and the National Festival takes place the following spring. Each year the location changes. The 2024 Festival will take place in Denver, Colorado. If invited to NVCAF, all Veteran travel costs are covered.

Music & Creative Arts Therapy is an evidence-based approach to clinical treatment that utilizes music and creative arts approaches and interventions in combination with a therapeutic relationship with a Board-Certified Music Therapist or Licensed Art Therapist to help work on clinical goals for rehabilitation and wellness purposes.

The Maryland VA Adaptive Sports program provides a variety of fitness, sporting teams, events, clinics, and various outdoor adventures that are modified to support anyone and their specific abilities.

Kelsey Eisenhauer, LPMT, MT-BC

VAMHCS Veterans Creative Arts Competition Coordinator

Music Therapy Clinic (Bldg 24H, Rm 013)

Email: kelsey.eisenhauer@va.gov
Location:

Perry Point VA Medical Center

VA Maryland Health Care System

59 Avenue D

Perry Point, MD, USA 21902
Work Cell: 410-585-4477