BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- What took fourth-grader Nicole Suelter a few minutes to paint resulted in a four month wait to discover she was judged the Sweepstakes Winner in the annual Kern County Fair Children’s Art competition.

Artwork had to be submitted in May to be eligible for the contest in which entries are displayed and judged each year during the September-October Kern County Fair.

An awards ceremony held Wednesday in the fairgrounds’ Harvest Hall in Bakersfield confirmed that Suelter’s painting was the judges’ choice as best out of approximately 500 entries.

Suelter was a third-grader at Almondale Elementary School when she painted her winning acrylic picture, “Orchids,” using a Sumi painting style just introduced in class that day.

She now attends North Beardsley Elementary. Suelter said it took her “a couple of minutes” to paint and that she was “shocked” that her teacher wanted to enter it in the contest.

When she learned that her painting had won the Sweepstakes, Suelter said she was “shocked again and amazed.”

Sponsored by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office (KCSOS), the annual competition promotes and showcases art created by public school children in special needs classes and students in preschool through eighth grade.

First place and honorable mention ribbons are awarded at each grade level.

Every entry had to be original in both design and color. Only the top two or three from each classroom survived tough preliminary judging.

The Fair Children’s Art Committee pared the submissions down to the final competitors. Fair judging took place on Sept. 22 with the artwork hung by grade level inside Harvest Hall once the fair opened on Sept. 23. The art remains on display until the fair closes Oct. 4.

“Every one of you here today has already been a winner at both the school and district level,” said KCSOS Student Events Coordinator Christine Goedhart-Humphrey, who presided over the awards ceremony. “Only a select few can win at the Fair, but the judges spent two hours reviewing all the artwork before they began determining the award winners.”

Kern County Fair Children’s Art results:

Sweepstakes Winner

Nicole Suelter — Almondale Elementary School

Preschool

1st — Shea Torrice — Rafer Johnson Children’s Center

Special Needs

1st — Manuel Vazquez — Rio Bravo Elementary

Honorable Mention — Dulce Gomez — Myrtle Avenue School, Luiz Mendez — Myrtle Avenue School and Faith Boone — Rio Bravo Elementary

Kindergarten

1st — Landen Kurtz — Bill L. Williams School

Honorable Mention — Roxanne Ortiz —Endeavour Elementary, Rigoberto Reyes —Morningside School, Samuel Andrade, Jr., — Valle Verde Elementary and Kaitlyn Cervantes — Bill L. Williams School

First Grade

1st — Cynthia Zamora — Morningside School

Honorable Mention — Emily Fuentes — Maple School, Alex Marquez — Downtown Elementary and Dahlia Mazariegos — Bill L. Williams School

Second Grade

1st — Faith Hood — Endeavour Elementary

Honorable Mention — Aurora Alejandre — Buttonwillow Elementary, B. J. Benavidez — Endeavour Elementary and Devin Gildner — Almondale Elementary

Third Grade

1st — Melinda Quach — Almondale Elementary

Honorable Mention — Richard Morales — Almondale Elementary and Chandler Paul — Maple School

Fourth Grade

1st — Joshua Valdivia — Morningside School

Honorable Mention — Johnny Kantin — Almondale Elementary, Maira Gomez, Maple School and Dallin Neeley — Pine Mountain Learning Center

Fifth Grade

1st — Rodrigo Ramirez — Valle Vista School

Honorable Mention — Miguel Padilla — Casa Loma School, Eunice Lim — Stockdale Elementary and Kyle Eubanks Almondale Elementary

Sixth Grade

1st — Kristen Thomas — Almondale Elementary

Honorable Mention — Kayla Bowen — Almondale Elementary, Samantha Escobar — Endeavour Elementary and David Alvarez — Sequoia Middle

Seventh Grade

1st — Rachael Metzger — Edison Middle

Honorable Mention — Victor Angulo — Ollivier Middle and Vanessa Cisneros — Edison Middle

Eighth Grade

1st — Alexander Clark — Edison Middle

Honorable Mention — Jade Brogdon — Edison Middle, Dendie Powao — Almond Tree Middle and Eduardo Ramirez — Rio Bravo-Greeley School