After almost 300 entries from students from across San Diego County, and thousands of votes from the community, the Comic-Con Hunger Action Hero Contest has been narrowed down to one final winner.
Those following along at home with the contest may remember “Hunger Halter,” created by 14-year-old Aiden Prior from Encinitas. This superhero grew up experiencing hunger and now has the noble mission to use his powers to make sure no one else has to experience hunger ever again. Prior scored first place in the competition with an overwhelming 755 votes from the community.
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Sirenna Ascencio, 17, from Chula Vista followed very close behind Prior with 618 votes for her drawing “Demeter.” Ascencio’s superhero goes by Julie Anders, news reporter by day, and “Demeter” superhero by night traveling the globe at the speed of light to fight hunger around the world, according to her hero origin story.
Although there was only supposed to be one grand prize winner, costume designer, Allan Lavigne will instead be creating two costumes and bringing the top two drawings “to life” at the 2022 Comic-Con convention.
Aside from having their superheroes jump off the page, both Prior and Ascencio will also receive badges to attend the convention. Not only will they get to attend and bring a few guests along with them, but they will also be featured on a panel where they can discuss their inspiring drawings.
Right on the heels of Ascencio, is the third-place winner 14-year-old Isabella for her drawing “Eartha” with 606 votes from the community. As a part of the top three, even though Isabella’s drawing won’t be brought to life, she will still receive a trip to Comic-Con Museum’s Makers Lab for her homeroom class along with the other winners. These top three winners will also be receiving Comic-Con and Feeding San Diego merch.
For those interested in seeing “Hunger Halter” and “Demeter” in the flesh along with their artistic creators, they will be showcased starting Wednesday, July 20 during the “Night at the Comic-Con Museum” event that honors Marvel’s Spider-Man. For more information on the event and how to buy tickets, you can visit their website here.
If you can’t make it to the event, the heroes will still be on display at the Comic-Con Museum until December 2022. The heroes will also continue to live on through Feeding San Diego where they’ll continue to use these heroes to educate children on their mission of hunger relief and food rescue in San Diego County.
For full profiles on the winning contestants and their artwork visit Feeding San Diego’s website here.
