Judges from the society selected winners in two age groups - youth and adult. The Grand Prize winner is Tatianna Cwick, age 17, from Cape Girardeau, Mo. Cwick has won a trip for herself and a guardian to ESA's European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, when Venus Express arrives at its destination.

"The title of my artwork is Ominous Beauty," Cwick said. "I think this captures the essence of the planet Venus, with its threatening volcanic environment and unique splendor." She said her father taught her most of what she knows about the planets, and that he suggested she enter the art contest because it "could combine both of our interests - his love for space and my love for art."

Yoo-Hong Sun, age 9, of South Korea won the youth category and Alejandra Gonzalez Quintana of Spain won first place for adults.

Venus Express will be the first spacecraft in more than 10 years to visit Earth's nearest planetary neighbor. Shrouded under a dense haze, Venus is nearly identical in size and mass, yet its surface temperature is hotter than a kitchen oven, because the thick atmosphere traps the Sun's heat in what has been termed a runaway greenhouse effect.

Instruments on board Venus Express will study the planet's atmosphere and what drives the planet's high-speed winds, and its camera will capture detailed images of the surface by peering through gaps in the haze.

The Venus Express Art Contest theme, Postcards from Venus, invited entrants to imagine the surface of Venus from an above-ground perspective, a bird's eye view of a world whose volcano-riddled surface contains few impact craters. The "Postcards" aspect was literal, because contestants were asked to format their works as postcards approximately six-and-a-half by nine inches (10 by 15 centimeters). The Planetary Society said it received hundreds of entries from more than 40 nations around the world, from Austria to Venezuela.

The panel of judges, selected by TPS, evaluated the entries based on their articulation of the contest theme, and their creativity and artistic merit. They considered the age of the artist in the children's category.

"I was just so impressed with the diversity and inventiveness of the artwork submitted," said David Grinspoon, one of the judges and a Venus researcher and science author. "To me, it bespeaks of a vast global awareness and excitement about imagining and exploring a neighboring world that is so like our own in some ways and so completely alien in others."

Other winners in the youth category included Upamanyu Moitra, age 12 from India, in second place; and Nabila Nindya Alifia Putri, age 17 from Indonesia, in third. Jason Tetlak of the United States won second place in the adult category, and two artists tied for third place: Alessandro Migliaccio of Italy and Edgar Tibori of Germany.

A graphic artist employed by ESA will select artworks from among the remaining entries for inclusion in a collage to be exhibited when Venus Express arrives at Venus. Two months or more after the arrival, another judging panel will review the entries to select two Special Prizes - one youth and one adult - for the artwork that most closely resembles a view of Venus returned from the spacecraft.

All of the winning artwork will be displayed at ESA's European Space Operations Center beginning on the Venus rendezvous date of April 11.

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