Alabama School of Fine Arts music students are dominating local and state competitions, culminated recently with 50 percent of the winners for the prestigious Lois Pickard Music Scholarship Competition, sponsored by the Symphony Volunteer council of the Alabama Symphonic Association, Inc., coming from ASFA.

Forrest Moody won first place in piano, Joseph Brock first place in strings and Trevor Sparks took second place in brass/woodwinds/percussion.  Moody was also honored with the grand prize and will perform with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, as well as receive an additional $1000 scholarship.

Winning the Lois Pickard is not new news for ASFA, boasting four winners in the last six years of competition. But this is only one of many competitions and scholarships ASFA's music and voice students are achieving.

In addition to dominating the Lois Pickard Competition winners circle, ASFA Music students have also claimed:

• Ten students placed in the top All-State Orchestra Festival Orchestra, all high chairs, including Concertmaster.

• National Association of Teachers of Singing auditions:  3 first places, 3 finalists

• University of Alabama Honor Band: 3 first chairs, 5 other chair placements

• Alabama Federation of Music Club auditions:   3 first place, second and third place

• Birmingham All-District Honor Band: 4 middle school and 5 high school placements

• Alabama All State Band Festival: 6 students selected to participate

• Alabama All State Jazz Band: 5 students selected to participate

Alabama School of Fine Arts is a tuition-free, public school for talented students in grades 7-12. Admission is by audition only in one of six specialties: Creative Writing, Dance, Math/Science, Music, Theatre Arts and Visual Arts. It is located in downtown Birmingham. For more information call 205- 252-9241 or visit www.asfa.k12.al.us.

Birmingham Parent magazine was a big winner at the Parenting Publications of America (PPA) Editorial and Design Competition at a banquet on March 6, 2010, the climax of the three-day PPA Annual Convention in Charlotte, NC.

PPA's Editorial and Design Awards Competition recognizes excellence in journalism, photography and design achieved by publishers, editors, writers and designers at member publications. Prof. Daryl Moen of the University of Missouri's School of Journalism coordinated the annual contest. A panel of judges reviewed 1,026 entries to choose the winners in each category. All judges have had significant professional experience.

Birmingham Parent won awards in design, editorial and general excellence categories within their peer group (based on circulation numbers). More than 64 magazines competed, and more than 400 awards

were given out.

Birmingham Parent, locally published by David and Carol Evans and edited by Carol Muse Evans, won:

· Gold Award for Editorial - Family Fun Column, "The Park Rater," By Patrick Rimmer

· Gold Award for Interior Photography, "Baby's First Haircut" - Amanda Traywick, photographer, Hilary Moreno designer and art director

· Gold Award for Special Section within a Publication - 2009 Special Needs Guide, Hilary Moreno designer and art director, Lori Pruitt associate editor, Amanda Traywick photographer and Carol Muse Evans publisher.

· Gold Award for Overall Design for a Publication - Hilary Moreno, designer and art director

· Silver Award - Calendar Design - Hilary Moreno, designer and art director

· Silver Award - Calendar Writing - Lori C. Pruitt, calendar editor and associate editor

· Silver Award - Feature Layout Design, "The Color Of Love" from the September 2009 issue, Hilary Moreno, designer and art director

· Silver Award -Table of Contents Design, Hilary Moreno, designer and art director

· Silver Award -"Short Stuff" Design, Hilary Moreno, designer and art director

· Bronze Award - Editorial Reviews, "A Page in a Book," written by Paige Gardner Smith, associate editor Lori C. Pruitt and Editor Carol Muse Evans

· Bronze Award for General Excellence, January 2009 "Going to College Guide," Hilary Moreno Art Director, Amanda Traywick Photographer, Associate Editor Lori C. Pruitt and Editor/Publisher Carol Muse Evans.

· Publisher Carol Muse Evans, who has served on the PPA Board of Directors for the last 3 years, was also elected Vice President of the group for 2010.

What the judges said about general design Gold Award:

Hilary Moreno, art director/designer; Carole Muse Evans, publisher/editor; Lori Chandler Pruitt, associate editor/calendar editor; Amanda Traywick, photographer - "This publication does the essentials very well. Good cover photography? Check. Good organization inside? Check. Clear, engaging presentation? Check. But it also offers a little something more, a creative edge that, as the rules state, not only serves the reader but engages and delights."

"The purpose of the PPA awards competition is to encourage a high level of journalistic performance and service to communities by recognizing editorial excellence and outstanding visual presentation in parenting publications," says PPA Executive Director C. James Dowden.

Open to all member publications, the competition was broken into circulation divisions: 30,000 or fewer, 30,001 to 54,999, and 55,000 and more. Members competed for gold, silver and bronze in 23 Editorial categories, 21 Design categories, five Ancillary Publications categories, two Web Site categories and five General Excellence categories (Rookie of the Year, Most Improved, Ancillary General Excellence, Web Site General Excellence and General Excellence), reflecting editorial and design.

Established in March 1988, PPA is a national trade association of regional parenting publications that reaches from Seattle to Boston and from Minneapolis to Miami, and to Canada and Australia. Some of the publications are tabloid newspapers; others are magazines, with 4-color, glossy covers.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, PPA is a nonprofit national organization representing more than 110 parenting magazines and newspapers in the United States, Canada and Australia. For more information about PPA, visit www.parentingpublications.org.

Birmingham Parent is a locally-owned, free monthly parenting magazine with a distribution of more than 30,000 issues per month and an estimated 80,000 readers. The complete digital editions of Birmingham Parent are available online at www.birminghamparent.com. The publication was begun by local couple David and Carol Muse Evans of Alabaster in January 2004 and is in its 6^th year of publishing. It has now won more than 27 national awards.