Leah Steurer, an 11-year-old resident of Plainview, received third prize in the November 2000 Cricket League art competition. For this contest, each entrant was asked to design a bedroom mural. Steurer's drawing appeared in the Feb. 2001 issue of Cricket Magazine.

Steurer was reading a story in Cricket, a magazine that she subscribes to, about a woman who painted things on her wallpaper and that is how she got the idea for her bedroom mural.

It only took Steurer, who is a student at the Long Island School for the Gifted in Huntington Station, a few hours to compose her drawing. She used pencils and markers for her mural.

Although she is not currently taking any art classes, Steurer has in the past. " I would like to be a professional artist or a doctor when I grow up," said Steurer. "I really enjoy drawing."

This is not the first time Steurer has been honored for her artistic abilities. When she was 5 years old, she won a contest in Highlights Magazine and had her artwork published for the first time. Highlights Magazine has a section entitled 'Our Own Pages' and children from across the country send in drawings and Steurer's was chosen to be published.

Last October National Geographic World Magazine, an offshoot magazine from National Geographic Magazine, ran a Halloween issue geared toward children. Steurer won third prize for her age group, 11-13, for a Halloween Drawing entitled 'You First', a picture of a scary haunted house.

Steurer is also a two-time first-place winner in Newsday's, Kidsday section. This is a contest that takes place every year around Christmas time. They ask the students to send in drawings on various topics such as friendship, sports and music. Both times Steurer won in her age group for the Getting Along category.

Each month, Cricket, which features the best short stories, poems, and articles by the world's finest children's authors, sponsors a different and unique writing or art competition with between 700-800 entries being submitted for each competition. Some come as far away as Africa and Australia. Winners receive recognition in prizes and the best entries are published on the Cricket League pages of the magazine and on the Cricket Magazine Group Web Site. Founded in 1973, Cricket is published by Carus Publishing Company.