Editorial

Arts awards

In receiving the Otto Dingeldein Award recently, musician Narvol A. Randol Jr. of Cape Girardeau and painter Herb Wickham of Jackson were welcomed into a 20-year tradition of honoring people whose work in the arts has enriched this part of Missouri.

The award is given by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, the organization Dingeldein, a silversmith, founded.

Randol, a trumpet player, is a longtime member of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band and the Jerry Ford Orchestra and helped found the River Heritage Mural Association. He also plays in the orchestra when Notre Dame Regional High School mounts its musicals.

Wickham is a fine landscape artist who had a 31-year career as an art and physical education teacher. He counts four past Dingeldein winners -- Jake Wells, Craig Thomas, Nick Leist and Carol Horst -- among his students.

Southeast Missouri Hospital received the Jeff Maguire Friend of the Arts Award at the arts council's annual meeting. The hospital was honored for its promotion of the arts. It sponsored the Children's Arts Festival for three years and the Art for the Health of It contest.

The Friend of the Arts Award, now in its fourth year, is named for the late Jeff Maguire, a Cape Girardeau lawyer who was committed to fostering the arts.

Congratulations -- and thanks -- to all.

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