Rio Communities Optimist Club honors student photographers across Valencia County
Ryant Cox won the grand prize in Rio Communities, as student photographers from elementary school through high school were recognized across four grade divisions.
The Rio Communities Optimist Club turned a local photo contest into a countywide snapshot of student talent, handing its 2026 grand prize to Ryant Cox, an eighth-grader at Belen Family School, and recognizing winners across four divisions spanning elementary school through high school.
The contest was open to students in first through fourth grade, fifth through eighth grade, ninth through 12th grade and Launch to Success, with gift cards awarded to first-, second- and third-place finishers in three grade groups plus a grand prize winner. Entries were due April 13, and the club once again used the competition to put student work in front of the public.
Among the winners named were Leah Mendez, Jennifer Ann Mendez, Joy Blaylock, Isabella Carrillo, Ysobella Depala, Hesston Cox, Michael Saiz, Rudy Hawkes, Matteo Leon and Jenissa Gamboa. The range of names across multiple schools underscored how far the contest reached beyond one campus, drawing students from different parts of Valencia County and giving families a reason to see school arts work celebrated outside the classroom.
That broader reach matters in a county where youth recognition often centers on sports or academics. The photography contest gave students a chance to build technical skill, creative confidence and a portfolio piece while showing how young people in Rio Communities, Belen and the rest of Valencia County see their communities through a camera lens.
The Optimist International photography program is built to expose young people to the Optimist Creed and encourage interest in photography, and local clubs are allowed to choose their own judging method and even name a grand prize winner. Rio Communities has used that flexibility to make the contest an annual showcase, with previous notices describing it as open to students from elementary through high school.
Ryant Cox’s 2026 grand prize also followed an earlier showing in the same contest. In 2025, Cox won first place in the fifth-through-eighth-grade division, while Krissy Darrough-Stockton took the grand prize. The repeated recognition suggests the contest is doing more than filling a calendar slot; it is building a local tradition of student art that families, schools and the Rio Communities Optimist Club can rally around year after year.
The images honored this spring reinforced a simple point about Valencia County’s young artists: they are not only learning how to take photographs, they are learning how to frame their own place in the community.
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