2 Valley teens finalists for Spirit of Youth awards

The Valley is filled with talented youth, and you only have to look at the finalists for the Spirit of the Youth Foundation awards to see.

The Valley is home to two finalists in the fine arts category -- Landon Swank, a local magician, and Palmer's Rory Egelus, who makes furniture from willow branches (the Frontiersman will be profiling Egelus in an upcoming edition).

The Spirit of the Youth Foundation was established in 1997 as a media-based project, to address the negative image of teens. Since then, the foundation has created and promoted a number of programs that help teens by giving them recognition for the positive role they play in the community.

Each winter, there is an awards banquet in Anchorage to recognize teens, or groups of teens, in 10 different categories.

They are: environmental activism, cultural activities, fine arts, lifesaver (crisis response) and prevention, participation in government or business, service (to peers, to young children and to community members -- three categories), overcoming challenges and science, technology and media.

This year, the awards banquet is Feb. 21 at the 4th Avenue Theater in Anchorage.

Last year, the Burchell High School dancers were finalists in the fine arts category.