AND THE WINNER IS

This past July, someone in Illinois beat the odds and won $1.33 billion in the Mega Millions jackpot lottery, a life changing amount of money. The odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 303 million. So many people were entering for a chance to win the big prize that 33,360 tickets were being sold per minute.

- Christine Egnoski

The Portrait Society's annual premiere competition doesn't feature a billion dollar prize, but it has, over the last 24 years, grown to be one of the most prestigious awards in the world. The International-a competition for portrait and figurative art-receives over 2,500 entries each year, which are juried by a panel of three artists over a period of several days. The selected 20 finalists bring their original artwork to the annual conference where another panel of three judges determines the final awards.

This year over $110,000 in cash and awards were presented including a $25,000 cash award to Luis Alvarez Roure, this year's Draper Grand Prize winner. Alvarez Roure was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and at an early age was passionate about the arts, creating meticulous realist drawings of people. But it was music that he initially focused on and eventually moved to New York City to finish his master's degree in music with the renowned Cuban-American pedagogue, German Diez Nieto. While he was a graduate student, he enrolled at the Art Students League of New York, where he studied drawing, painting and anatomy classes. His years at the League reignited his love of drawing and provided him a strong sense of direction and confidence. As he was transitioning from music to a full-time artist, Alvarez Roure found the demands of his music studies had prevented him from establishing connections and a network of artist friends. He didn't know any galleries or agents or had exhibited his work in public showings. He then made the decision to enter competitions and little by little, he started gaining recognition.