TEENIE BEANIE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

An elbow-macaroni lobster, tie-dyed teddy bear, painted lizard, a collection of seagoing creatures and two pictures of Inch the worm outshined the competition to win a drawing contest sponsored by area McDonald's restaurants and the Southeast Missourian.

The six children each won a complete set of Ty Teenie Beanie Babies. In all, 642 children entered.

The winners:

-- Age 4, 5 and 6: Jason Green, Whitewater; Katie Bond, Scott City.

-- Age 7, 8 and 9: Nikki Tuschhoff, Cape Girardeau; Madison Wathen, Fredericktown.

-- Age 10, 11 and 12: Bret Whitaker, Chaffee; Catherine Moreton, Cape Girardeau

The children were asked to draw their favorite Ty Beanie Baby. The most creative and unique drawings were chosen by a panel of judges.

Any materials could be used to create the drawings, and children were creative.

Jason Green painted Liz the Lizard taking a drink from a pond. The blue lizard was glued to a gold felt cutout of the lizard's shape. It had a red felt tongue, and the lizard was glued to a painted background.

Six-year-old Jason said his picture took a "long, long time" to complete. "It took a long time to get the right color of paint," he said.

He has collected just a few Beanie Babies, and the lizard is one of his favorites because it is blue, his favorite color.

Jason said the Teenie Beanies he has won will be displayed on his bed. "They look good on my bed," he said.

Katie Bond made Pinchers the lobster using elbow macaroni, glued down and painted red.

Nikki Tuschhoff drew Peace, the tie-died teddy bear, complete with a peace sign and 1960-ish black and white background.

Bret Whitaker drew the seagoing beanies, Scoop the pelican, Flash the dolphin, Claude the crab and Pinchers the lobster, then cut the characters out of fabric and glued them to a fabric-covered sea and beach scene. He spent about a week on the design.

Catherine Moreton drew Inch the worm sunning himself on a deck and reading the Southeast Missourian. The newspaper is opened to news pages including sports, weather and weddings.

Catherine Moreton, 10, has collected more than 80 Beanie Babies. "I love Beanies," she said. "I thought Inch was one of the most colorful. At first I wanted to put him on a lawn chair with sunglasses, but that didn't look realistic. So I put him in a life-sized chair. I decided to have him reading the newspaper to make it more cute."

Catherine used all the art supplies she could find in the basement.

"I am so excited that I won," she said. "All my friends entered. I've never won anything that I know of."

Madison Wathen used a colorful combination of fruit-flavored cereal and matching beads for her version of Inch.