Zuni High sophomore wins New Mexico congressional art competition

Nicky Yuselew-King, a 10th-grade student at Zuni High School, brought a district-wide honor back to McKinley County by winning first place in the 2026 Congressional Art Competition for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez’s office announced the win, putting a Zuni student at the center of a contest that draws entries from across NM-02.

Her winning artwork, “The Beauty of the Middle Place,” rose to the top among submissions from students who attend school in or live in the district. This year’s theme, “A Place Worth Imagining: New Mexico in the Future,” gave young artists a chance to imagine what the state can become, and Yuselew-King’s piece carried that vision from Zuni High School to the congressional level.

The Congressional Art Competition is the U.S. House of Representatives’ official art contest for high school students, and it is sponsored by the Congressional Institute. Open to students in grades 9 through 12 across New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, the competition gives young artists a rare public platform and a chance to be seen beyond their own classroom walls.

For Zuni and the Pueblo of Zuni, the win is more than a ribbon or certificate. It is a public sign that local arts education is producing work strong enough to compete across a broad district, and that a student from a small community in western New Mexico can carry local identity into a larger political arena. In a county where schools and families work to preserve opportunity close to home, Yuselew-King’s achievement stands as a reminder that creative talent from McKinley County belongs in the conversation about New Mexico’s future.