Argonaut Elementary School third-grader Megan Trager designed this card for the UNICEF collection, and walked away with a national prize.
Argonaut student draws UNICEF's winning card
Eight-year-old takes gold in card contest
By Rebecca Ray
A third-grader at Argonaut Elementary School won the grand prize in a nationwide art contest, which several thousand children, ages 12 and under, entered.
The student, Megan Trager, 8, designed the best card in the "seven and under" category for the ninth annual United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) "Kids Helping Kids" Greeting Card Contest, sponsored by both the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and Pier 1 Imports. Trager entered the contest last spring when she was 7 years old.
The Tragers, who received 400 of Megan's cards for free, are sending her card to everyone on their Christmas card list.
UNICEF is printing Trager's card as part of an exclusive card collection for the holidays, and the card will be sold in more than 750 Pier 1 stores throughout the country, as well as on Pier 1's website. Next year, the card will become part of UNICEF's general line of Christmas cards.
As part of the prize, Pier 1 awarded Megan and her family a free week-long trip to New York City, paid for the flight, as well as for a Rockettes' Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and tours of the United Nations headquarters building and NBC studio.
Pier 1 and UNICEF also held a luncheon on Dec. 4, for Trager, as well as for Michelle Shaw, the 10-year-old from Tulsa, Okla., who won the "7 to 12-year-old" category.
At the luncheon, which took place at Serendipity 3, a famous ice cream parlor and restaurant that makes foot-long hot dogs, huge sundaes and frozen hot chocolate, U.S. Fund for UNICEF president Chip Lyons, Pier 1 Imports chairman and CEO Marvin Girouard, and NBC journalist and U.S. Fund for UNICEF spokeswoman Asha Blake presented Megan and Michelle each a plaque and $500 in cash. Megan's mother, Sian Trager, estimated that approximately 60 workers from UNICEF and Pier 1 attended.
"They were really nice people and did a really good job with everything," Sian said.
Megan enjoyed her first stay in New York City, where she, her mother, her father, David, her 4-year-old brother, Steven, and her grandparents Jim and Lin Liddiard spent Dec. 2-8, visiting the Museum of Natural History, riding a carriage in Central Park, watching the Broadway musical The Lion King and seeing the Empire State Building. Megan especially liked the Statue of Liberty. The Tragers and Liddiards also had fun shopping and riding in taxis and subways.
Megan entered the contest last spring, when her private art teacher, Sharon Strouse, had Megan and the other students draw pictures on postcards. Strouse also gave Megan a form she could fill out to enter the contest. Megan filled it out, asked Sian to mail it with her postcard, and didn't think any more about it. Then, one Friday evening in May, Joy Rich from Pier 1 left a message on the Tragers' answering machine, saying that Megan had won the contest. Naturally, Megan and her parents were excited.
This year, Megan had also won an art contest at her school, where her work was used to design the school T-shirt, and Sian was glad to see others express their appreciation for Megan's talent again.
Winning the contest has also taught Megan that she can make a difference in helping to solve the world's problems, and it has given her an "I want to help" kind of feeling, Sian said. Pier 1 donates all the proceeds from the sale of the cards to UNICEF, which is mandated by the U.N. General Assembly to help meet children's needs and advocate children's rights worldwide.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
