The Chicago Sun-Times has announced the winners for its art contest after receiving more than 120 entries from students in the Chicago area.

Contestants were asked to create works of art based on the theme, “Spring Ahead.”

“What I meant by that theme was, first of all, we’re in the in the doldrums of winter, or at least the end of winter, and we’re looking ahead to spring — literally the season but also springing ahead in life,” said Bob Herguth, a Chicago Sun-Times staff reporter who helped organize the contest.

Herguth said he first came up with the idea for the art contest several years ago because of his love for art. But it did not come together until the pandemic, when so many were staying at home and kids faced a lot of fear and anxiety.

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“We did it to give parents even a few hours a day to throw the kids some markers and some paints and have them go at it,” he said. “It was really kind of a morale booster and positive sort of outlet for parents and for kids.”

Judges whittled down the winners and offered constructive criticism.

Along with Herguth, judges included Molly Z, a digital illustrator in Chicago, and Cheri Lee Charlton, a muralist, illustrator and practitioner in residence at Columbia College.

When judging the pieces, Herguth said they were looking for pieces that made a mark — literally and figuratively — and evoked some sort of emotion, along with some skill.

One of the youngest winners was preschooler Zachariah from the Loop, whom Molly Z said clearly enjoys experimenting with color and movement and trying to capture the essence of something.

“What’s lovely about this piece is he’s going for how does this piece feel, how does it make me feel, how can it make other people feel through this exuberant use of brush marks and color, and even this element of abstraction in it, which he is probably a little bit young to fully know,” Molly Z said. “I don’t think he realized he’s already following the tradition of some pretty big art history masters in our culture.”

Johanna, Zacharia’s 7-year-old sister, also submitted a piece and won.

“I think it totally captures Chicago,” Charlton said about Johanna’s winning piece. “It’s got kind of a grayish-blue sky — which sometimes our springs are not the brightest springs — and also has such a great use of texture because she uses crayon in the buildings and has these great cross-hatching marks. Then she uses watercolor to create this really beautiful atmosphere around her piece.”

Charlton added that the piece gives viewers a good sense of perspective and space, especially from such a young artist.

Gloria, another of the winners, can be considered a seasoned champ as far as Sun-Times art contests go; she won a previous contest the paper had put on. She is a seventh-grader on the North Side.

“This is such a good example of a student using foreground and background and experimenting,” Molly Z said.

Mehak, a 10th-grader from Aurora, also won for her strong use of symmetry. She mainly used colored pencils to create her vibrant piece.

“Maybe it’s because I’m an illustrator, but I really love the storytelling and this piece, it’s rendered really well,” Charlton said. “It’s realistic; the figure looks recognizable but it’s also the added details of the flowers and the hair and the butterflies, and the sort of wrapping of the vines around [a] figure, kind of creating this metaphor for Mother Nature, but not a traditional Mother Nature.”

Ten winners were chosen for each category: elementary, middle and high school. They will be featured in Sunday’s edition of the Sun-Times. Honorable mentions will be displayed in the paper next week.

See all the winners here.

Bianca Cseke is a digital producer at WBEZ. Follow her @biancacseke1.