As you are aware, I have been running a contest honouring the memory of the departed @lauralemons She was an excellent Steemian, encouraging everyone who she came across to produce, interact, and love this community.

Sadly, she took her own life recently. You can read about her honest struggles, which she blogged about openly. I won't repeat them there.

I have run this art contest of a period of three months, eliminating contestants with a new theme each month, leaving only three.

The final theme was "Surrender"

In no particular order, let's take a look at the entrants for the final round. Congratulations on your perseverance @mattclarke, @kaylinart, and @juliakponsford and your intepretations on the theme of "Surrender".

@mattclarke

Matt entered the competition as a non-artist, and through sheer persistence, managed to make it through to the last round. His entry on the topic of surrender reads as a humorous and lighthearted play on movie, film, and TV characters. Surrender to their power, or be destroyed.

This entry made me laugh the most, and smile - it is the sort of thing that I imagine Laura would have had a chuckle from as well.

@juliakponsford

Julia has blown away the competition with her entries into this contest, with detailed explanations of the work, workflow, and processes she has used to come to the final outcome. Their entry on the "Surrender" theme was titled "Beautiful Agony" and explores the notion of Surrender to another individual in an erotic context. The colour palette is just as would imagine a work about surrender would look.

This entry is a fantastic, out of the box interpretation of a difficult theme, focusing on the vulnerability of the notion of surrender.

@kaylinart

Kaylin has been prolific and dedicated in the competition. A close friend of Laura's, she has put a tiny piece of Laura into each and every work that she has created for this contest, and like the others, noted a struggle with the topic of "Surrender" during their submission post.

The attention detail and medium used in this piece perfectly captures the theme in a way that I personally view the universe - nothing is destroyed, and all matter is recycled, over and over, to its constituent elemental atoms. We're all made of star stuff.

@holoz0r (me!)

I too, felt compelled to submit an entry for this final found, even though I obviously can't win my own contest. The topic of Surrender and essentially letting go, portrayed through visual imagery is something appealing, because it is one that is unconventional, and difficult to represent.

There can only be one winner, and the winner is @kaylinart

Kaylin has managed to capture Laura's essence in each of the entries submitted to the contest over the last three months. Like most of us, we have done our mourning over the loss of Laura in many different her ways. Her posts, and creative work, in memory of Laura and her eager pursuit of each month's changing theme have expressed flexibility in style, technique, and lateral thinking.

As I've posted previously, the prize is a delegation for three months of 50 STEEMPOWER from my personal coffers, and 10 STEEM. In three months time, I may run another contest in a similar style, building the prize pool to a larger amount, compounding each time the contest runs. While this first round has produced art very close to Laura's persona; I envision a broad range of entries from a broader range of artists in the future iterations of this contest.

I want to personally thank everyone who participated in the early contest rounds, with a special shoutout to @dksart, @yusaymon, @atopy, and @sunravelme . Additional shout out @virtualgrowth who displayed early support for the contest with generous upvotes and a fantastic picture wall of Laura.

Lastly, to everyone who still, and will continue to miss Laura's presence on this platform, take a moment to know that you are not alone.

Rest in peace, Laura

Thank you for reading.

Prize Proof

Steemd transaction of delegation