Christina O'Connor | The Roanoke Times

Gracie White and her Harding Elementary School art teacher, Jenny Pollard, show off the winning snowman picture behind a poster-sized version inside the Olver office in Blacksburg.

Three smiling, chubby-cheeked snowmen cast in front of a royal blue "Van Gogh" sky, complete with swirling white clouds and twinkling stars.

This is what 8-year-old Gracie White painted when asked to create her ideal holiday scene in Jenny Pollard's third-grade art class at Harding Avenue Elementary School in Blacksburg.

In mid-December, Gracie's painting will arrive as a holiday card in the mailboxes of more than 500 clients and associates of Olver Inc., an engineering firm in Blacksburg with offices in Virginia and North Carolina.

The company launched a holiday card contest among third-graders in Montgomery County schools and received more than 300 submissions from five participating schools.

"We got a lot of snowmen, but this was the best," said Libby Long, director of administrative services at Olver. "The swirly snow clouds and the great big cheeks is what really got people."

While there were no restrictions on the submissions beyond a 1-inch margin, company staff looked for cards that were festive, colorful and environmentally friendly.

"This one didn't have anything to do with recycling, but the fresh, clean air attracted it to us," said Long of Gracie's painting.

Olver gave Gracie a $100 gift card to Barnes and Noble, and Harding Avenue Elementary received a $200 check to be used in the library and art department.

Olver's chief financial officer, Mark Blaylock, presented the awards to Gracie, her mother, Elizabeth White, and Pollard last Thursday at the company office.

By the time she hit the parking lot, Gracie already knew how she would spend her gift card -- on a book in The Littlest Pet Shop series.

"She loves art. She draws all the time," Elizabeth White said of her daughter.

Olver hosted four or five holiday card contests in the past, but this is the first since 2001, Long said. She and co-worker Lawrence Hoffman headed up the contest, receiving considerable help from Angela Neilan at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

"She helped out by giving us lots of environmental information for the students to learn, as well as coloring books, pamphlets and handouts," Long said.

The second-place winner was Holly Newberne, also from Harding Avenue Elementary. Third place was a tie among three artists: Lilleigh Stevie from Harding Avenue Elementary, Ali Lowe from Kipps Elementary and Claire Collins from Price's Fork Elementary.

"It was such a thrill, not only to win first, but to tell the class we took all the places," Pollard said.

She encouraged students to work on the project in between other projects. Other submissions included a dove with a stained glass effect, a mosaic of Santa and a reindeer and a Christmas scene in which the animals were picking up litter.