Diego Bustamante was announced as the Kids for the Cure T-shirt design contest winner Thursday at Red Lick Middle School. He received the news to loud cheers from his excited classmates. His entry was chosen out of 400 entries from six school districts.
"I'm very surprised," Diego said after he was announced the winner. "I didn't think I'd ever win this in a million years."
Diego's mom, Shannon Bustamante, was there to congratulate her son.
"It's amazing. You never really think your kid will win an art contest so it's pretty cool. I'm really proud of him. We kept it a secret so he didn't know until today," Shannon said.
Diego won a T-shirt with his design on it, a $50 gift card to Target and a goodie bag from Komen Texarkana. His design will be printed on approximately 500 T-shirts for children who participate in Race for the Cure, scheduled to take place Oct. 21 at Four State Fair Grounds.
The T-shirt design contest gets children interested in learning more about breast cancer and Komen's mission to find a cure.
"It brings awareness to kids to get them involved," said Ashley Loftin, Kids for the Cure committee co-chair.
Amanda Carlile, also co-chair for the committee, said the contest is fun for the kids.
"I think they get excited to enter the drawing contest. They work hard to get that prize. We got the drawings last school year but we kept it a secret until today," Carlile said.
Before Loftin announced Diego as the winner, she told him and his classmates about the work Komen does locally.
"Race for the Cure is an event we hold every October to raise money for those fighting breast cancer in our community," Loftin said.
Approximately 5,000 participants are expected at this year's race.