A REDWOOD HIGH SCHOOL student in Larkspur won an art competition in which the prize includes delivering his art into the next century.  

Joel Kurtzman was named the winner of the 2026 Congressional Art Competition for California’s 2nd Congressional District, earning a yearlong display of his photograph in the U.S. Capitol before it is sealed in a time capsule for 250 years. 

The annual nationwide high school visual art competition, which began in 1982, is organized by the U.S. House of Representatives and recognizes and encourages artistic talent in each congressional district.  

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, was welcomed to view his winning photograph “Golden Hour Fog” in the Capitol gallery. The photograph will remain on display for one year alongside winning entries from congressional districts across the country.  

In addition to its Capitol display, the photograph will be included in the Semiquincentennial Congressional Time Capsule, a collection of contributions from all 50 states and U.S. territories commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary. The capsule will remain sealed until 2276, when it is scheduled to be opened during celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

Time was also a significant theme in Kurtzman’s winning image, in which he captures fog moving across Bolinas Ridge on Mount Tamalpais at sunset. 

Kurtzman said he photographed the scene during rapidly changing conditions, capturing a brief moment when the setting sun illuminated the hills and cascading fog. “Joel’s photograph beautifully captures a landscape that is familiar and meaningful to many North Coast residents,” said Huffman. 

Finalists included Ayla Carroll of Del Norte High School in Del Norte County; Daymond Brown of Mad River High School in McKinleyville in Humboldt County; Julian Frey of Ukiah High School in Mendocino County; and Joseph Trivino of Windsor High School in Sonoma County. 

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.