Fire Prevention Poster Art Contest – County Winner Letter – 1995

Here’s an improved version with spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence flow refined for clarity and readability, while keeping your original wording, personal voice, and details as close as possible:

The Division of Fire Safety (who need a new logo) of the State of New Jersey shocked me with this announcement. My world was rocked since I felt like my effort—the Patrick Nagel-inspired piece—was such a joy to work on. The Art Book (this book is still with me today) that I was obsessed with, found in the Highland High Art Supply closet and kept under lock and key due to nudity, also perfectly fit the criteria of the contest and made me pivot away from a more traditional comic book illustration. Honestly, the original idea for this contest would have been too much to scale up to anything near poster size.

To say I was not elated to have this handed to me by my art teacher cannot be expressed enough.

Unfortunately, I do not recall what happened after this magnificent county victory. I recall checking in with the Highland front office, my Art Teacher (Connie Wagner), and even recruiting my Mother to track the results, in hopes of possibly visiting to see a display or exhibition of sorts to view the posters of the final selections—to no avail.

My memory has faded a bit on this, and I’ll add context if I recover any other supporting documents or if my memory gets kick-started (I’ll also push this issue with my Mother to see what she can remember). But I recall this struggle and lack of communication as a reason why I didn’t participate in my next two eligible years.

Some of this might be my young, big adolescent head at the time—I felt (and still do) that my entry should have garnered top prize since the piece was so inspired and stellar, and both my parents know how much effort I poured into it; their support during all this is the stuff of legend.

To further twist the blade, my Mother made a concerted effort to recover the original. I also recall there was interest at Highland High to display it—this effort also came up empty (a donut).

**Editor’s Note: Supporting documents accompanied this letter

***Editor’s Note: This letter was taped in the lower right corner with blue non-stock painter’s tape to facilitate batch scanning. Unfortunately, the page repeatedly jammed in the feeder, so it was transferred to the flatbed scanner for successful completion of the operation.

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.