Three Conroe ISD Students Named Finalists for 2025 I Am Texas Writing and Art Contest

THE WOODLANDS, TX -- April Zhang, a fifth-grader at Mitchell Intermediate, her brother, Alexander Zhang, a third-grader at Bush Elementary, and Duke Garner, a freshman at Grand Oaks High School, were each named finalists in the 2025 I Am Texas Writing and Art Contest hosted by The Bryan Museum.

April Zhang is a finalist for her art title “American Barn Owl”, Alexander for “Texas Longhorn”, and Garner for “Timeless Gaze”. April Zhang was also a finalist in the Writing category last year for her letter entitled “Dear Sam Houston”.

The winners will be announced on Monday, Sept. 22. All finalists will be published in the I Am Texas Historian’s Journal and become a part of The Bryan Museum’s permanent library collection. Student art finalists will be displayed at The Bryan Museum’s Student Art Expo Sept. 26 through Nov. 23.

I Am Texas is an annual competition that launched when The Bryan Museum and iWrite literacy organization joined forces as 1,000 kids made history together in 2022 by breaking the Guinness World Record for the Largest Published Book in the World. The program encourages students to share their Texas story through writing and art and has continued to expand across the state, with winning students earning thousands of dollars in cash and publishing prizes.

The Bryan Museum in Galveston was built in 1894 and houses more than 70,000 pieces that tell the story of Texas and the American West and contains many online resources for student research.

Creative students in grades 2-12 are invited to submit writing and art to the 2026 I Am Texas Writing and Art Contest, which runs from Oct. 10, 2025-April 30, 2026.

Please visit www.iamtx.org for more information.

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