The FINANCIAL -- Students who poured out their love for America’s Favorite Ketchup in their own unique and artistic way will forever hold a place in Heinz history as official winners of the national 2012 Heinz Ketchup Creativity Contest.

Each of the winners will have their original artwork reproduced on more than 1.5 million Heinz Ketchup packets, which will appear at restaurants and foodservice establishments throughout the country. Plus, each winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize and winners’ schools each will receive $1,000 worth of Heinz Ketchup and a $1,000 award.

The contest, now in its sixth year, has inspired approximately 115,000 artistic entries from schools coast to coast. This year’s entries demonstrate how the contest has continued to capture the creative imaginations of budding artists nationwide.

“We were so impressed with the level of artistry and sheer imagination demonstrated by thousands of students across the country,” said Nicole Hoelke, senior brand manager for Heinz Ketchup. “It’s truly inspiring to see so many talented young artists dream up their very own design using Heinz Ketchup packets as their canvas and show both their creativity and passion for America’s Favorite Ketchup.”

As part of the contest, students are encouraged to use their imagination and create their own, original design. The only specific direction for entries is that they use the standard entry template sized for packet proportions and somehow incorporate a brand element into the drawing, such as the Heinz Ketchup keystone label or bottle image.

According to H.J. Heinz Company, students are also asked to use the six colors traditionally printed on the packets, including black, gray, green, red, yellow and blue. This type of open platform has fostered a wide variety of artistic interpretations. This year alone, artwork entries featured such whimsical and imaginative designs as ketchup gardens, cartoon-like ketchup superheroes, ketchup bottle instruments and more.

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