2026 Awards Winners !

BEST of  SHOW

INNOVO

Zachary Braddock

Teacher:  Home Education “Sonoran Academy”

Artist’s Statement:  Welcome to the future! My sculpture is a creative depiction of a future Florida city called Innovo ( Latin for create or innovate ), in which I envisioned some unique ways Florida could fly into a more sustainable and creative future!

One of the first things you will notice is the large white building in front. This is both the city’s power plant and water distribution center. For the power aspect, it sucks up salty seawater from the ocean and the hydrogen is separated from it by a process called electrolysis. The hydrogen atoms have their electrons stripped away and these electrons go through wires to make power. Lastly the hydrogen is recombined with oxygen to become water again. As for distributing water, the water that was used to make power is remineralized for health benefits and then is pumped out to the rest of the city.

Another structure that catches your eye is the large clear building in the back, right corner of the city. This building is a great flight in medical and biological science! It is a greenhouse and invasive plant sanctuary! Obviously, the greenhouse greatly helps provide food for the population by being a precisely regulated mini biome.  It’s also a place where invasive plants can grow without taking over the environment! And why would we want this? Ironically some of the invasive plant species in Florida actually have medicinal and beneficial properties! For example, in the back of the greenhouse you will see a large bush with red berries (and my personal favorite), this is a Brazilian Pepper tree. A tincture from it’s berries can kill antibiotic resistant MRSA found in hospitals! There is also an aloe vera plant, which produces a salve that helps with sunburns, as well as turmeric which has many health benefits. Nether of these are invasive, but they are not native to Florida. The greenhouse also grows plants with medicinal benefits that are native to Florida. Such as American beautyberry, which help fight fevers and stomach ailments! This greenhouse structure also sucks air in from the outside, the plants clean it and then it is ejected back out into the world. So it is also a giant air filter for the city!             

In the center of the sculpture, we find futuristic clear dome houses. Everyone in Innovo lives in one because dome houses are the most hurricane resistant houses in the world! This is because curved structures are the most aerodynamic, so wind and water roll around them more easily and pressure doesn’t build up on only one side. With these homes, hurricanes can just fly by without causing much destruction.

Water travel has changed a little in Innovo. It has glided into a more eco-friendly relationship with the ocean. Today many animals like sea turtles are injured due to the fast and furious spinning of modern boat propellers. In the future it will be required by law that all watercraft large or small have specialized grates around their motors to keep the creatures safe. And larger, slower moving ships have paddle wheels instead of propellers, as the ship in the front shows.

The seaworthy mass on the right edge is an artificial island which gives seafaring researchers a more permanent base to study marine life out at sea! It also has an artificial rain tower, which can provide rain for any city in need along the Gulf Coast.

Our final stop on our tour of Innovo is the high tech City Hall in the back left! This place is the monitor and regulator for automatic functions around the city, like the power plant, trains, and greenhouse filtration. It also assists in one of man’s highest flights… to the stars! There is a sizable telescope on the roof. This, along with radar imaging from the floating artificial island, helps Florida’s space programs plan their space flight paths! The city hall also has an aqua-train station, which houses trains that can take you to other cites in Florida through Florida’s Aquifer System! Florida’s Aquifer System is a vast underground cave and tunnel system that goes through most of Florida, much of it is filled with water, hence, the trains are “aqua-trains”. Thanks for touring Innovo with me!

While creating this sculpture, I enjoyed looking at things many would think of as irrelevant junk and thinking, “What could this become? ”. I had fun dismantling an old coffee maker; which is where I got most of the circuit boards and clear tubes from.  The HUGE circuit board that became City Hall came from an outdated, broken radio we had. I hope you enjoyed my sculpture, and have a newly modified vision of what Florida could look like in one hundred years!          

Click here to watch the Artist Statement Video

 Awards :  ESE

Awards :  Grades K-2

K-2 : THIRD PLACE

“Eagle-Happy Birthday USA”

Student Artist:  Jianni Del Valle

Teacher:   Debonique Grigsby,   Mitchell Elementary

K-2 : HONORABLE MENTION

FUTURE NATURE

Student Artist: Aubrie Wood

Teacher:  Casey Wood, Colson Elementary School

Awards :  Grades 3-5

3-5: THIRD PLACE

FLY INTO THE FUTURE WITH A FLORIDA HERO!

Student Artists: Arielle Blackburn

Teacher:  Charlotte Blackburn, Homeschool

View the artist statement video here.

3-5:  HONORABLE MENTION

Flying Electric Bus

Student Artists:  Elina Pirtle 

Teacher: Lisa Lawson,  Claywell Elementary

View the artist statement video here.

Awards :  Grades 6 – 8

6-8 :  THIRD PLACE

Keys to Humanity

Student Artist:  Shelbi Harper 

Teacher: Sarah Ober-Rettig

Eisenhower Middle

View the Artist Statement video here.

6-8 :  HONORABLE MENTION

The Dance Of Marriage

Student Artist:  Sayuri Rivera

Teacher: Julianne Gonzalez ,

Progress Village Middle Magnet, School of the Arts

View the Artist Statement video here.

Awards :  Grades 9 – 12

9-12 : THIRD PLACE

DISCO BUTTERFLY

Student Artist:  KATIE DO, HANNIE GARCIA, ALESSANDRA BERNAL 

Teacher:  Jackie Lucas, Leto High School

View the Artist Statement Video here.

9-12 : HONORABLE MENTION

COPTER

Student Artist: Casey Whitebread

Teacher:  Brian Taylor, Plant High school 

View the Artist Statement Video here.

2025 People’s Choice Awards!

3-5 : People’s Choice

The Sea Saver: Reef Cleaner 3000

Student Artist:  Riley Tulle

Teacher: Tara Tulle, Claywell Elementary School 

 9-12 : People’s Choice

Half Remembered, Half Imagined

Student Artists: Noah Hilliard,

Madelyn Olson, Timothy Merly,

Aiden Figuero

Teacher:  Shelley Hilliard ,

Grace Homeschool Group

View the Artist Statement Video here.