Sammamish student’s artwork selected for 2012 voters’ pamphlet

Published 10:55 am Saturday, May 19, 2012

Sammamish resident Sophiana James received a pleasant birthday surprise on Thursday.

When her parents took her to Olympia for her 10th birthday, they told her they were going on a field trip to tour the Capitol. The home-schooled student suspected nothing when they took her to the last stop, the Office of Secretary of State.

When Sophiana, her parents, Andrew and Christine, and her teacher, David Smith, were escorted into Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office, they were greeted with the news Sophiana had won this year’s Voters’ Pamphlet Kids’ Art Contest.

Sophiana’s artwork was selected out of more than 700 entries. This year’s contest theme was “If I Could Vote…” The winning art will be featured in the statewide Voters’ Pamphlet for the General Election this fall.

The 2012 pamphlet will be mailed out in mid-October. In 2011, 3.5 million copies were mailed out statewide.