Silver Spring, MD – The National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) is pleased to announce that three U.S. winners were selected to receive gold medals in the worldwide competition of the 2000 International Aviation Art Contest. The Federation Aeronautique International (FAI), at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, selected California’s Sean C. Wu (age 16) and the Crabtree brothers of Kentucky, Benjamin (age 12) and Jonathan (age 7), to receive FAI gold medals for their art work. Prior to winning the international gold, all three boys had already won or placed in their home-state art contests, as well as in the U.S. national competition. The U.S. national competition winners were honored during the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) Annual Awards Ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Other international level winners included children from China, Finland, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Turkey.

The International Art Contest is an annual competition for children and young adults designed to promote the interest of aviation and space flight. Each year a different theme is chosen and students from all over the world are judged on their use of the theme. The theme this year was "Flight into the Future."

"This is the first time in recent memory that three young Americans, in a single year, have brought home the gold from the Olympics of student aviation art. We are very proud of Sean, Benjamin and Jonathan and extend our thanks and congratulations to them and their families," said Ray Rought, chairman of the NASAO Center for Aviation Research and Education, which manages the annual event in the United States. Rought also thanked the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Air and Space Museum and NAA, which all play important roles in the event. The international winning artwork, as well as the other U.S. national competition artwork, is available for viewing on NASAO’s web-site at www.nasao.org/aviationeducation.

The NASAO Center for Aviation Research and Education is a non-profit research affiliate, organization of National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO), which seeks to improve the states' role in the future of the national air transportation system.