Honoring the arts

Congratulations to Craig Thomas, this year's winner of the prestigious Otto Dingeldein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.

The award is named for Otto Dingeldein, a silversmith who founded the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri in the 1960s. In 1975, he became the first recipient of the award. He died in 1991, and the council continues to give the annual award in his name.

It would be difficult to find someone more deserving than Thomas, whose work is visible all over the city of Cape Girardeau. He teaches numerous painting and drawing classes, started the annual Cape Girardeau Street Painting Festival, paints numerous murals in local schools and businesses, makes street paintings at local events and currently is assisting with the mural that begins at Broadway on the floodwall in downtown Cape Girardeau. He has won eight other awards and honors for his artistic contributions.

It is wonderful that the council honors those men and women who bring us the finer things in life.