NWC News Desk

Two Montana students named winners in holiday card design/photo contest

Posted December 14, 2007
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P O W E L L, W y o. - Artistic work by Montana students Nicole Lorentz-Chenoweth of Huntley and Katie Butts of Harlowton were chosen to represent Northwest College in Powell on its 2007 holiday card.

The two students didn't work together but their respective skills in tandem produced the winning holiday card entry featuring a blue-tone snowy winter scene in Montana. Each year, Northwest sponsors a student design contest for the college's holiday card. Photo students are asked to submit holiday-type photos for graphic design students to select in creating a holiday card design. Butts and Lorentz-Chenoweth both earned $200 for their winning entry.

Butts, a photography major who graduated in May, took the winning photo north of Judith Gap during a record snow storm in March. The shot wasn't necessarily an easy one - after pulling off to the side the road to take the photo, she ended up getting stuck in the deep snow.

A 2005 Harlowton High School graduate, Butts is now attending the University of Montana in Missoula to finish a degree in resource conservation. She hopes to find employment in a position that utilizes both her photography and conservation skills. Her parents are Patty and Wayne Butts of Harlowton.

Lorentz-Chenoweth chose Butts' design from a pool of 15 photographs submitted to the contest, admitting it was tough to think about holiday designs when the weather had turned warm outside and summer was pretending to arrive early. She said she liked Butts' snow scene best of all the photos submitted because it looked more like a traditional Christmas, and because of that, she thought other design students might not choose to incorporate it into their submissions. She used a simple design concept that played on the blue tone of the photo.


A December 2007 NWC graduate, Lorentz-Chenoweth plans to become a graphic designer. She's already started along that path by designing logos for the Friends of the Powell Branch Library and a small business. She's kept her full-time student status by traveling two days a week from Huntley to the NWC campus in Powell.

Lorentz-Chenoweth spent a lot of her childhood and still claims several relatives in Thompson Falls, Idaho, but she graduated from Shepherd High School in 2004. Her parents are Mary and the late Del Chenoweth of Shepherd. She currently lives in Huntley with her husband, Matthew, and son, Jordin.