Badin High School senior Madeleine “Maddie” Thompson has won the top award – “Best of Show” -- in the prestigious annual “Tomorrow’s Artists Today” competition at the Middletown Arts Center.

“I’m really excited,” said Thompson, the daughter of Matt and Sara Thompson of Hamilton and a graduate of Queen of Peace School. “I couldn’t have done it without the Badin Art Department, and especially without Mrs. (Sarah) Daniels. I love going to class every day.”

Thompson, an Advanced Placement Art student at Badin who also starts on the girls’ basketball team, was honored for her pastel drawing, “Shadows.”

“Maddie is an excellent artist. She’s very driven,” said Daniels, the chair of Badin’s Fine Arts Department. “She’s very self-motivated. She’s not afraid to make mistakes because she’s constantly learning and growing through the experience.”

“It’s like a break in the school day – a different way to engage your brain,” Thompson said of her art classes. “I really like drawing and painting. You can do what you want. And if you mess up, you’re still learning.”

Thompson plans to major in English in college and ultimately be a book editor … but also take a minor in art and potentially use that skill as well in the editing field.

She was one of three top winners from Badin in the annual Middletown show. Senior Grace Harris earned a first place award for her self-portrait in pastel in the Drawing category; and junior Kylee Fait earned a first place award in the Painting category for her acrylic painting, “Simon.”

That trio also received awards in other categories as well.

“I’m proud of all of our artists,” said Daniels, who was named Badin’s “Educator of the Year” in the fall. “Badin artists are really strong. We were remote during the fourth quarter of last school year, but our artists were diligent and continued to challenge themselves. They never gave up.”

Other Badin artists honored in the “Tomorrow’s Artists Today” competition included seniors Ella Brennan, who received two awards and was recently admitted to the DAAP program at the University of Cincinnati; Paige Long, Lindsie Ohl, Haley White and Lucy Wurzelbacher.

Thompson was the second consecutive Badin High artist to win the “Best of Show” award in the annual competition at the Middletown Arts Center. Regan Runtz, a member of Badin’s Class of 2020, earned the award a year earlier for a pastel drawing.