New Hyde Park student's photo wins art contest

A photograph by a New Hyde Park Memorial High School student won first place in a multimedia contest coordinated by the online publication Zo Magazine.

Katherine Fitzgerald, 16, a junior, took the top spot in the art category of the magazine's 2018 Teen Media Expo for her work titled "Circle Project," featuring a series of multicolored circles. She said she used a Nikon D3300 to photograph the inside of a tube-shaped slide in the park across the street from the high school.

"It feels pretty amazing," Fitzgerald said. "Art has been in my life since I was a child. This was a good confidence booster."

She received $300 cash and $300 for the charity of her choice — the Leah Kuczinski  Legacy Foundation. Kuczinski, whom Fitzgerald said was a "close friend," died in a go-kart accident in Florida during the February midwinter break. She was 16 and a sophomore at New Hyde Park Memorial.

Fitzgerald said her camera was a birthday gift from her brother John. The contest was an extra-credit assignment this fall for her photography class.

She is a member of her school's National Art Honor Society and a designer for the high school yearbook. She is on the varsity cheerleading team and the volleyball team and also plays in a volleyball league outside of school.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.