EDMOND—Philadelphia Youth Camp director Wayne Turgeon announced the winners of the 2016 Philadelphia Church of God Teen Talent Contest on July 25 during the camp’s awards night, adding six new names to a list of winners that extends back for a decade. The event marked the tenth year that pcg youths from around the world have created paintings, drawings, digital art, music and dance recordings, photographs, and writing submissions for the competition.

In 10 contests since 2006, 103 entrants have won 173 individual prizes for first, second or third place and received 41 honorable mentions. And once the applause has ended and everyone has gone back home, many youths continue to develop their gifts.

For many Teen Talent Contest alumns, their interest in different forms of art began at an early age.

Herbert W. Armstrong College junior Melissa Barreiro, a seven-time award winner, said she spent hours painting with cheap watercolors as a 3-year-old. In high school in Northern California, she drew portraits for several hours after classes and homework each day.

“It was something I did because I was passionate about it,” Barreiro said. “It was my way to be expressive. My dad was a sign painter, my mom a seamstress, and both of them made music together. … Sometimes, he would let me use his special Prismacolor pencils to draw. Mom would tape up broad sheets of white butcher [paper] on a living room wall for me to paint and color as big as I wanted. … My parents always made art possible.”

Canada member Autumn Friesen, who won three art awards in the 2006 contest, said, “Many of my wonderful childhood memories revolve around watching my mother painting at her easel,” she said. “She taught me how to draw, sketch and paint. Her love of art was very contagious, and I soon found myself immersed in the joys of it as well. She also taught me how to paint on multiple media such as feathers, saw blades, tiles and wooden boards.”

“I was always a reader, and it seems like anyone who’s a reader has tried their hand at writing one way or another,” said Edmond member David Brandon, who won first place in the writing category in 2006 when he was age 16. “You read a book and think, ‘I can do that.’”

Armstrong College freshman Callie Cocomise’s experience was different and offers an interesting perspective to youths who don’t find themselves immediately interested in or skilled in the arts. She started playing the piano when she was 7 but begged her parents for years to let her quit.

Cocomise estimates that she has spent 4,000 hours practicing the piano over the past 11 years. She said she didn’t enjoy the instrument until competing with other pcg youth at the 2010 Teen Talent Contest performing arts finals on the stage of Armstrong Auditorium. “I went home and doubled my daily practice time,” she said. “Over the years, the Teen Talent Contest has pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me take giant strides in the piano. I know that I have to improve a lot more, but the Teen Talent Contest got me to a level I never thought I would ever get to. It encouraged me to work hard and enjoy the talents that God gives each of us.”

Cocomise is a five-time winner in the performing arts and photography categories dating back to 2010.

The veteran contest winners did not drop off their efforts after moving on from their young teenage years. Barreiro, Brandon, Cocomise and Friesen have all continued to play and paint and use their developing skills in new ways. They said that developing their talents has opened doors to career and service opportunities that otherwise would not have been impossible.

Barreiro now works part-time in the art department at pcg headquarters and has produced art for album covers, publications, Bible Story volumes, Imperial Academy Bible Lessons and other Church media. Friesen paints pictures to donate to Church auctions, gives her artwork to friends, and has received commissions for several specific creations. Cocomise has accompanied and performed special music during Sabbath services. Brandon wrote some of the lyrics for the pcg musical Jeremiah—A Musical and Step-Dancing Extravaganza and also wrote a poem included in a Trumpet article about the Chernobyl disaster.

“It’s about developing a good idea for a piece, and then shutting out other tangent ideas that promise to make my current idea bigger and better but are really just time wasters,” Barreiro said. “Ultimately, you just have to finish something. It doesn’t even have to be ‘perfect.’ You can worry about perfection once you actually have something on the drawing pad.”

“My advice for any teen struggling with the idea of entering the Teen Talent Contest is: Do it!” Friesen said. “You have been given this talent by God. He desires you to use it. … Practice it. Use it. Make the most of it.”

“Do it anyways, even at the risk of not placing at all,” Barreiro said. “That might sound a little disappointing, but there’s a sense of accomplishment when you take that piece of artwork to the post office. Art is risky. Taking that risk makes you feel brave. The character you build through entering—the things you learn from it—that’s your real prize. An award is just a bonus.”

“‘You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take,’” Brandon said. “When I started writing, I had no idea if people would enjoy reading it or not. You never know what latent talents or abilities you have that God can develop.”