Michelle Barreto, 18, of Lakewood created the winning library card artwork. Barreto used watercolor, in Pierce County Library System’s first-ever teen library card design contest. This spring teenage artists from throughout Pierce County vied for the opportunity to be the first teenager to design a Pierce County Library card.

A total of 110 artists submitted creations in colored pencil, pen, paint, camera and computer-generated art.

Professional artists reviewed entries and selected five finalists. Then, 1,240 Pierce County residents cast votes on the library’s Web site to choose the winner.

Barreto’s winning piece features a fish and floral design, which uses several colors.

“I use a watercolor technique with more paint and less water, which produces a bright, mural-like piece,” said Barreto.

The winning design, along with the artist’s name, will appear on a new library card.

“Pierce County Library congratulates all the teen artists on their creativity,” said Neel Parikh, executive director for Pierce County Library. “We are excited about the great response and the amazing variety of entries to this contest. Although anyone in our service area may get a Pierce County Library card with the new design, we believe the card will have a strong appeal to ‘tweens and teens.”

The teen-designed library cards will be available for free, in addition to other designs, during the library’s third annual card drive this fall.

People may view her winning artwork online at piercecountylibrary.org, search site: teen card contest.

Reach Chaz Holmes at cholmes@courierherald.com or 360-802-8208.