The Philadelphia Water Department, with support from the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, has selected the winners of its annual “Protect Philadelphia’s Hidden Streams” student art contest.

More than 1,500 entries were received, and the winners will get quite a showing. The first-place drawings for each age category will be displayed on advertisements for one year inside SEPTA buses and trains. These along with eight other award-winning entries, will be published in a calendar available for free  at the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center.

This year, the contest included a new video category, and the winning entries are being highlighted in the calendar in addition to being featured on Flickr, YouTube (keyword search “Delaware Estuary”) and the website of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.

And the winners are:

Drawing Category:

9th - 12th Grade: 1st prize, Keith Palmer; 2nd, Dominique Mills; 3rd, Shanice Canty, all of the Maritime Academy Charter School (of Lower Northeast Philadelphia).

6th - 8th Grade: 1st prize, Patricia Conway; 2nd, Nikelous Heisler; 3rd, Nicholas Gambino, all of CCA Baldi Middle School (of Far Northeast Philadelphia).

3rd - 5th Grade: 1st prize, Billy Killen, Jr., Maritime Academy Charter School; 2nd, Simone Rogers, St. Francis de Sales Catholic School (of West Philadelphia); 3rd, Nigel Law, Germantown Friends School.

 Kindergarten - 2nd Grade: 1st prize, Christopher Mendez, John Moffet Elementary School (of Kensington); 2nd, Destiny Cruz, John Moffet Elementary School; 3rd, Steven Wang, Solis Cohen Elementary School (of Lower Northeast Philadelphia).

Video Category:

1st prize, Brandon Cummons, Kevin Jones and R.J. Spurgeon, Maritime Academy Charter School; 2nd, Maleek Armstrong and Jeff Konce, Maritime Academy Charter School; 3rd, Aedhan Loomis, home entry from Center City Philadelphia.