2025 Black Swamp Arts Festival Award Recipients

The 2025 Black Swamp Arts Festival is pleased to announce the winners of the Juried Art Show. This year’s Best in Show is Harry Welsch, Ceramics from Lutz, Florida.

Best 2-D was awarded to Joe Dagostino, Photography & Digital Art from Sagamore Hills, Ohio and Best 3-D was awarded to Alexander Draven, Jewelry from Akron, Ohio.

This year's Judge's Award for the Juried Show was Stephen Wheeler, Painting from Aurora, Indiana and the Sustainability Award was awarded to Allen Danielsen, Mixed Media, from Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania. The 2025 Emerging Artist Award was presented to Katherine McKernan, from Maumee, Ohio.

Honorable mentions went to Loraine Lynn (Fiber & Leather), Matthew Godsil (Painting), and William Shearrow (Ceramics).

This year’s theme for the Teen Arts competitions was “Honoring the Greats.” Black Swamp Arts Festival is pleased to announce the winners of the Beats on the Street competition and the Chalk Walk competition held in the Teen Arts area. The Beats on the Street winners were the members of the Bowling Green High School team. Unaccompanied vocal ensemble groups of three to ten members compete in the Beats on the Street musical competition to earn money for their High School’s Music Department. Monetary awards are given to the schools based on different categories.

Sponsored by BG Rotary, this year’s Chalk Walk competition’s Best Overall winner is an Anthony Wayne team! Monetary prizes for Chalk Walk are awarded to High School Art Departments and are based on multiple art and cooperative considerations.

The Black Swamp Arts Festival also honored long-time volunteer, Nick Hennessy, with the Dan Baglione award.

Dan Baglione was one of the founding members of the Black Swamp Arts Festival and served in the role of Site and Logistics Chair for the first five years of the festival. He had an enthusiastic, energetic, and inventive spirit, and his vision laid the groundwork for the Site and Logistics Committee. Dan lived graciously and courageously with cancer until his death in 2002. The Dan Baglione Service Award was established to recognize an outstanding volunteer, supporter, or advocate for their service to the Black Swamp Arts Festival.

Nick Hennessy, a retired professor at Bowling Green State University, helped Black Swamp Arts Festival develop its Recycling & Sustainability practices. According to current chair, John Zanfordino, Nick would “bring his own blue bin” and was a one man team. It was due to this effort that the Black Swamp Arts Festival committee named Nick, this year’s Dan Baglione recipient.

The winner’s artwork, as well as over 150 additional artist’s work, will be on display until Sunday, September 7th in downtown Bowling Green, Ohio. The Chalk Murals from the Chalk Walk competition will also be on display (weather permitting).