THE TOP WINNER — Anneliese Schupbach’s “Sunset Steampunk City” took first place and the Peep-le’s Choice Award during Brooke High School’s annual Peep Show, an art contest in which students are challenged to create assorted scenes using Peep marshmallow treats. -- Warren Scott

WELLSBURG — Today, the world celebrates Easter — the holiday in which many store shelves have been cleared of hundreds of Peeps marshmallow candies. They come in assorted colors — blue, pink, yellow. Some are shaped like bunnies, some are in the form of a chick or other animal.

However, not all of those Peeps were purchased for childrens’ Easter baskets.

More than 100 Brooke High School students have been gathering the Easter novelty to create scenes inspired by movies, television shows, books, sports and other sources for the school’s annual Peep Show.

Each year, art instructor Sara Walden Roark challenges students to incorporate the candies into entries for the annual art contest.

The contest is open to all Brooke High School students, including those in Kelly Lumbatis’ art class for students with special needs.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS — Erica Popp’s “The Swing,” at left, placed second in the Brooke High School Peep Show art contest. Her work was inspired by the 1767 painting by French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard. -- Contributed

This year, scores of entries were displayed in the school’s library and online. The public was invited to nominate their favorite scene for the Peep-le’s Choice Award by visiting the websites photos.app.goo.gl/RtvKiBy7HmGsz1R7 and photos.app.goo.gl/WfNpt9c6UKnuZb6a9.

Shannon Baldauf, a Brooke High School graduate and art instructor, was recruited to name three top winners, as well as honorable mentions, among the many pieces.

The Peep-le’s Choice Award and first place went to Anneliese Schupbach, whose scene was entitled “Sunset Steampunk City.”

Schupbach was inspired by the science-fiction subgenre in which Victorian settings are infused with futuristic technology powered by the mechanical and natural resources available during that era.

Using cardboard, aluminum and other materials, Schupbach created buildings and vehicles, including a blimp occupied and driven by Peep bunnies on which she painted Victorian vests, overalls and goggles worn by so many of the steampunk characters.

CAT LADY –– Ava Rohr’s “Crazy Cat Peeps” placed third in the competition. Rohr was among the students who used Peeps marshmallow candies, small toys, art supplies and various household items to create scenes for the annual art event. -- Contributed

Second place went to Erica Popp’s “The Swing,” which was inspired by the 1767 painting of the same name and created by French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard.

A bunny Peep adorned in a frilly dress stands in for the elegantly-clad young woman perched on a swing in Fragonard’s work, while another bunny Peep in a painted-on blue suit propels her forward.

Placing third was Ava Rohr’s “Crazy Cat Peeps.” Rohr’s scene shows a pink Bunny Peep wearing a paper dress, sitting back on her sofa and surrounded by an assortment of toy cats.

Rohr used cardboard, paper and other materials to create a “cat tree” for the felines to climb, a rocking chair and other furnishings.

Honorable mention went to: Zoey Miller for her “Statue of Peeprodite,” inspired by Venus de Milo’s statue of Aphrodite; Deedra Groves’ “Peepsi,” with a can of Pepsi-Cola suspended in mid-air, pieces of brown Peeps broken up to resemble the bubbly soda; and Riley Stein’s “Dress Peeps in Paris,” featuring a trio of yellow bunny Peeps in chic dresses and button “flowers” inside a French clothing boutique.

A PEEP SHOW TO REMEMBER — Sophia Wilkerson’s “Brooke High Peepball” scene, included a scoreboard and fan-filled bleacher overlooking a recreation of the school’s softball field. The infield was filled with Peeps, including a helmeted batter preparing to swing. -- Warren Scott

The following winners were named for the special needs class: Preston Hill’s “Peep Hunting,” which depicts a yellow bunny Peep taking aim at a toy deer from behind a bush made with green paper streamers, first place; Aiden Balcezak’s “Peepsformers,” with a Peep-headed giant robot, inspired by the Transformers toys, second place; and Kasey Miller, The Three Little Peeps, third place.

In Miller’s creation, pink Peep bunnies stand in for the Three Little Pigs, appearing before houses made with straw, wood Popsicle sticks and brick simulated with red plaid cloth. The trio is unaware of the brown wolf Peep poking out of the brick chimney.

Honorable mention went to Lily Reagan’s “Miss Fedak’s Desk” scene, which included miniature replicas of a laptop, soda bottle and plants that can be found on her teacher’s desk, along with a Peep in her chair.

Reagan’s entry not only received honorable mention, but was named the Peep-le’s Choice Award winner of the class.

The top finishers received gift cards, baskets of art supplies and Peep-inspired merchandise purchased with donations from community members.

Gannon Swickard dressed more than a dozen Peep bunnies and chicks in tuxedos, dresses, bowties and bows for his depiction of a Peep wedding during Brooke High School’s annual Peep Show art contest. Swickard painted stained glass windows inside the church to create a more authentic scene. -- Warren Scott

Schupbach’s entry featured a large sun painted orange and descending behind the steampunk city. Her display was one of many scenes having a three-dimensional quality extending beyond the cardboard dioramas.

Inspired by Disney’s “Arabian Nights,” Morgan McKinney’s creation featured yellow Bunny peeps as Aladdin and Jasmine, riding a magic carpet suspended above cotton “clouds” and a painted Arabian city below them.

Katelyn Carroll’s “Hidden Garden,” depicted a pair of Peeps perched atop a waterfall created with gelatin “cascading” into a pond below.

Sophia Wilkerson’s “Brooke High Peepball” portrays a recreation of the school’s softball field, including a scoreboard and a fan-filled bleacher filled with Peeps and a helmeted Peep batter who is preparing to swing.

As in past years, the entries included scenes drawn from literature and other entertainment, sports, history and everyday life, as well as the students’ own imaginations.

The movie “The Titanic” inspired two of the entries.

In Chasity Stevey’s version, Peeps appear as Rose, laying on a floating door, and Jack, clinging to its side, while the two halves of the doomed ship, created from Legos, sink behind them.

Rose’s locket hangs in the night sky above.

Lexie Wokutch’s version recreates the “Titanic” scene in which the star-crossed lovers stand at the bow of the ship, with blue paper streamers representing the choppy waves below.

Morgan Liggett included a short history of George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware in 1776 through her recreation of that historic trip.

Liggett used a handful of blue bunny Peeps who are being carried across a river of white Styrofoam chunks of ice on a cardboard boat that bears a small U.S. flag.

Olivia Havelka dressed a pink bunny Peep as Little Bo Peep. Havelka included a clay shepherd’s crook at her side to corral the four Peeps that have been disguised to resemble her flock of sheep, each with cotton and plastic eyes.

Gannon Swickard presented a church wedding as his Peep scene. A Peep groom and bride, dressed in a tuxedo and wedding gown, stand before a minister and congregation of chick Peeps, adorned in bowties and bows.

Swickard painted three stained glass windows above them.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)