A Vicksburg student’s art project has been selected for an international competition.

Redwood Elementary School student Haley Noble, 12, won the state Lions Peace Poster Contest and will compete in the Lions International Peace Poster Contest this spring.

This year’s peace poster theme is “A Celebration of Peace.” Noble incorporated the celebration theme in her poster by illustrating a birthday party for peace.

“I did the balloons and the cake to represent the party, and the dove for peace. And then all the different colored hands and the flags to represent the countries,” she said.

Her poster, titled “It takes love within each of us to celebrate peace around the world,” will compete with posters from hundreds of students from around the world. Her poster has already been sent to the Lions Club International headquarters in Oak Brooke, Ill. The winner will be announced in time to attend Lions Day with the United Nations in New York City on March 4.

Lions member Barbara Applebaum, who coordinates the Vicksburg Peace Poster Contest, called Noble’s mom Natalie, who is also a member of the Vicksburg Lions Club, to tell them she had won the state contest. Applebaum said this is the first time a Vicksburg entry has made it to the international competition.

“I was very, very excited. I love art,” Noble said, adding the experience has made her want to create art more often. Her mom said she has asked to buy canvases and art supplies to continue exploring her interest.

She even went on a tour of the Attic Gallery.

“I got a lot of ideas from there,” Noble said.

She plans to compete in next year’s competition, which will be her last year of eligibility at age 13.

Noble made her peace poster this summer under the tutelage of art instructor Karen Biedenharn at the Southern Cultural Heritage Center. Five 11- to 13-year-olds spent a couple hours every morning for a week in July creating their poster. On the final day of the week, two judges named Noble the first prize winner, and she recieved $75 for her efforts. The poster then moved on to district and then to state, or multi-district contest.

“Your entry won high honors for both artistic representation and the title representing your interpretation for the theme,” said Glenn Harrison, Mississippi Lions first vice district governor, in a presentation to Noble.

Earlier this month is when Noble was notified she won the state contest and a $100 prize. At Wednesday’s Lions meeting, Harrison presented her with her earnings.

“I hope you win. It would be great if we had the international winner right from Mississippi,” he said. “It’s really a big deal. It’s really quite an honor for her.”