Congratuations to the 2007 Phoenix Award winners! The Phoenix Award is given by the Lawrence Arts Commission to recognize outstanding achievements in the arts in the Lawrence community. This town is really lucky to have such amazing support for all art forms and there are so many world class artists living in the area who’s talents help make it a great place to live. This year’s winners were:

Kathy Pryor, Arts Administrator
Ted Johnson, Arts Advocate
Janeal Krehbiel, Musical Arts
Vince Gnojek, Performing Arts
KT Walsh, Visual Arts
Joyce Schild, Arts Volunteer
Linda Frost, Arts Volunteer
Barb Wasson, Exceptional Artistic Achievement

I’d especially like to congratulate my dad, Vince Gnojek for winning in the performing arts category! I could tell at the awards reception that he was deeply touched and honored to be on stage with everyone. He is truly one of the finest musicians I know and I’m extremely happy that all of his hard work has been recognized! Also, thanks to Kip Haaheim for his kind introduction.

A memorable moment at the awards ceremony was KT Walsh’s speech who asked everyone to take a pledge to the arts which was a humorous way remind people that there is an instinctual need for creativity in our lives and we need to recongnize it on a daily basis. She also gave out several bags of found items that the audience will take and create street art with for display downtown on Nov. 24th.

You can read more about each of the winners here online.