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Winner Of Online Zoo Penguin Art Contest Get VIP Tour

By Edward Cardenas

ROYAL OAK (CBS Detroit) - The winner of an online penguin art contest, and her class, received a a VIP tour of the Detroit Zoo Friday.

The student, Stella C., a fifth grade student at Ottawa Elementary School in Clinton Township, won the Comerica Penguin Art Contest which coincides with the debut of three new gentoo penguins at the zoo.

By winning the contest, she won a trip to the Detroit Zoo for her entire class to see the zoo's new gentoo penguins and have a special presentation from a penguin keeper. Additionally, she won a $1,000 grant to Ottawa Elementary School.

"Congratulations to Stella for her beautiful drawing of a gentoo penguin at sunset, said Michael T. Ritchie, president, Comerica Bank-Michigan, in a release.

More than 350 pieces of art were submitted by students in grades K-5 to the Comerica Bank Facebook page. A panel of judges narrowed the submissions for a public vote.

More than 9,100 votes were cast, with more than 3,300 votes for Stella's drawing.

The online contest comes just months after Comerica Bank contributed $50,000 to the Detroit Zoological Society for the new Polk Penguin Conservation Center. The center is set to open early 2016.

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