PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshires Jazz president Ed Bride and Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer announced the winners of an annual student art contest Monday, and its entries are decorating the walls of city hall.

“The winning art becomes the graphic focus for the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival," Ed Bride said. "And that winner this year was Maddalina Penna.”

“I think it's pretty insane that I'm seeing my art everywhere,” Maddalina Penna said.

Penna’s piece is on posters throughout the county advertising the 10-day Jazz Festival. She’ll also be signing copies at the Colonial Theater for the final concert on Sunday, April 30. Penna and other students listened to jazz in the classroom while creating her design. She said she hopes to be a professional artist one day.

“It's just really cool to see it around, especially places like North Adams, where I don't really go that often and people are just seeing my art, you know, it's just really cool to me," Penna said. "I've sold a few paintings and I've won a few competitions, but this is pretty cool. This is the biggest it’s ever been.”

This year’s contest provided a new opportunity for students to submit work in the Artificial Intelligence category.

“So, you just have to scale it for the size of the paper and then you literally just type in what you want," Ethan Breitmaier said. "Like I typed in a piano, jazz painting... then just like came out with all that, with all the colors and everything.”

Category winner Ethan Breitmaier used a website to generate his piece, he said it’s his first attempt at using AI to make art.

“I was a little surprised. At first, I didn't think it was going to work on the website," Breitmaier said. "I thought it was just like some piece of junk or whatever. And then when I printed it out, it turned out to be super good.”

Breitmaier and Penna are both juniors at Pittsfield High School and said they’re already looking forward to next year’s contest. Bride says it’s all about getting younger people excited about jazz and giving artists the opportunity to be seen.

“It's heartwarming to see that happen," Bride said. "And our mantra has always been if you if they don't hear it when they're young, they'll never hear it. Because jazz is not the popular music of the day. It's growing again, thankfully, but you don't hear it much on the radio, so they have to hear it in person. You engage them when they're young, when their minds are still open and flexible, and I think is working. Look at the walls, right?”

The winners announced Monday are (1) Maddalina Penna, (2), Katarena Castagna, and (3) Abby Malumphy. Ethan Breitmaier won the AI category. Honorable mention awards were presented to Piper Patton, Nyla Cuyier, Charlotte Goodnow, Paige Williams and Josephina Pixley.