Jasper wins 2020 innovation in arts and culture award

Sister Cities of Jasper announced the city had received the Innovation Award in Arts & Culture for cities with a population under 25,000 from Sister Cities International during their annual conference held this week.

This is the third award Sister Cities of Jasper has received from Sister Cities International in three years. The city has also received the award for Best Overall Program in 2018 and the award for International Business & Trade in 2019.

“We are honored and excited to win this award for innovation in Arts & Culture from Sister Cities International,” said Mary Leah Siegel, president of the Sister Cities of Jasper. “We are so proud of our new sister cities logo and the cooperation and partnership between Jasper and Pfaffenweiler on this project. Receiving recognition of our hard work and this award for our efforts is just an additional fantastic benefit.”

Sister Cities of Jasper received its latest award for the work and achievement on the new logo project and contest held in 2019. The project was a joint effort between Jasper and it’s sister city, Pfaffenweiler, Germany.

While visiting Pfaffenweiler during the bi-annual student exchange in the summer of 2019, Ross Halvorsen, who teaches German at Jasper High School and is a member of the Sister Cities board of directors, made plans with sister city team members of Pfaffenweiler to hold the logo contest. The idea was to link the two cities with the creation of a common partnership logo.

A contest was held in both cities with a $500 prize for the chosen design. More than 60 designs were submitted from artists in both cities and the choice was narrowed down to a design submitted by Tracey Lorey of Jasper who operates Running Design Studio.

The winning submission and logo was revealed in January of 2020, just in time for the 35th anniversary of the partnership between the two cities.