Four Students Win The 2024 Portraying Mark Twain Art Competition

This year, four Elmira College students won the “Portraying Mark Twain” art competition sponsored by the Center for Mark Twain Studies. The students’ work was selected from 62 student submissions.

Now in its eighth year, the Portraying Mark Twain competition challenges EC students to submit works representing Mark Twain, his literature, or aspects of his life in Elmira and Quarry Farm.

This year’s winners are:

• Piper Andrews ’26, Business Administration Major

• John Price ’27, Business Administration Major

• Abby Flatt ’26, Art Major

• Samantha Nikula ’27, Mathematics Major

"I look forward each year to seeing the creative pieces Elmira College students put together as part of this competition,” said Dr. Joseph Lemak, History Instructor and Director of the Center for Mark Twain Studies. “This is a fun way for EC students to engage with and leave their own mark on the important history of Mark Twain."

The winning entries will be featured in future publications of Elmira College and the Center for Mark Twain Studies.

Works by former winning students can be viewed here, in the “Mark Twain and Elmira” exhibit in Cowles Hall, on social media posts, and in various printed materials relating to CMTS.

New works are being accepted for the 2025 contest here.