Mistake at art show gives artist $150 prize in wrong age category

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
An artist won $150 for first place in the 13-17 teenage category at the Community Art Show last week end. The problem is she isn’t a teenager.
Due to a mistake in the paperwork or typing or judging, Alisha Lorincz, who is a 22-year-old student at Eastern Michigan University, won in the 13-17 year old category. Her sister Abigail Lorincz, who is 14, was in the same category as her older sister, which was the right one for Abigail.
The error was discovered by the girls’ mother Renee Lorincz at 7 p.m. Saturday night, when she came to pick up their entries an hour after the show had ended. She pointed out the error, but show officials decided not to change anything.
“Everyone was gone and the show was over,” said Angelica Renaud, chairperson of the show, in a Monday night telephone call.
She said it was too late at that point to do anything. She said she was unsure of what went wrong.
Renee Lorincz said she filled out the entry forms and sent them in with the two $10 entry fees. The family looked at the show on Friday and saw that Alisha had won and were glad, but didn’t notice anything wrong.
She said the drawing Alisha entered was really, really special. It was done as a birthday gift for her girlfriend, whose cat had died.
Renee said on Saturday night when she was handed the winnings for Alisha, the designation “teen” was on the envelope. She said Alisha wasn’t a teen and then the mistake was discovered.
“I feel bad about this,” Renee said on Tuesday. She said she hoped that other entrants in the teen category don’t feel they’ve been hurt by this mix-up.