Online voting ends today for new ‘Welcome to Nevada’ signs

Voting ends Friday for a series of new “Welcome to Nevada” signs that will be placed this summer on highways leading into the state.

The public will choose four winning designs from 12 submitted by Nevada high school artists.

Six of the designs were created by Southern Nevada students, including four from Las Vegas.

The designs can be seen and voting conducted at TravelNevada.com/pages/sign-contest.

“We are impressed with the quality of work and with the creativity exhibited by Nevada’s young artists,” said Claudia Vecchio, director of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, which is conducting the design contest. “We are excited to share the top entries with the public and to let them choose which signs best welcome visitors to our state.”

Voters have until Friday to pick winners. Three designs are finalists for signs that will be placed in four regions. The designs reflect the natural and cultural diversity of the state and different signs will be used to best represent each region.

One of the submission rules was to incorporate the state’s brand, “Nevada. A World Within. A State Apart.” into the design. Some of the designs also have the Nevada Tourism Commission’s TravelNevada.com website address included.

For the contest, the state was divided into four regions, southeast, southwest, northeast and northwest.

Finalist entries were submitted for the southeast by Bryan Krantz, a junior at Southwest Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas; Brynne McMurray, a senior at Moapa Valley High School in Overton; and Ethan Smedley, a Moapa Valley sophomore. For the southwest, finalists include Ann Nicole Tang, a junior at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts; Daisy Diaz, a junior at Southeast Career Technical Academy in Las Vegas; and Luke Tedesco, a sophomore at West Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas.

The contest opened in March and artists had to submit their work by early April.

A selection committee comprised of members of the Nevada departments of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and Transportation, as well as graphic artist professionals and educators, chose finalists last week.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta