Courtesy Photo­Image The winning entry

The winner of a contest to design a logo for North Platte's Prairie Arts Center is former North Platte resident Mark Peters.

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Peters bested 115 other designs, submitted by 54 artists from around the state, ranging from grade school students to senior citizens.

Judges said they worked long and hard to pick the best design, taking heart from the number of entrants, which indicates widespread interest in the project to renovate the century-old federal building and preserve it for generations to come.

Peters and his wife grew up in North Platte and still consider it “home," they said.

Peters now lives in Lincoln and works in Omaha, where he is a professional graphics designer. He heard about the contest from his brother. He said that he did a lot of research on the building and the arts center and created about a dozen designs, then had his family, friends and colleagues narrow it down to three submissions.

The judges also paid tribute to school students in Mullen, who submitted a number of high quality entries, demonstrating their creativity and artistic excellence.

Also, Dorothea Kampfe of Gothenburg showed the civic-mindedness of the entrants when she told the judges that if she won the $500 prize she would return $300 to the Prairie Arts Center, give $100 to the local playhouse and buy $100 worth of art supplies for the needy.

She sent a note with her entry that said, ”Your group and volunteers are to be highly complimented for using the 100-year-old building for a worthy purpose.”

Heather Johnson of the North Platte Telegraph contributed to this report.