A color version of Irena's black and white grand prize illustration for the story, "Carrying the God."	Irena Yankova Dimitrova (center), Illustrator Grand Prize winner, on stage with actor Sean Astin of Lord of the Rings and judge Ron Lindahn.	A color version of the black and white illustration for "Freefall."

           Irena Yankova Dimitrova is Bulgarian, twenty-seven years old and married to one of last year’s Illustrator Contest winners, Yanko Yankov.

           Irena attended university and graduated in 1998 from the Department Pedagogy of Art.  She not only went on to teach in the middle school of her town, Gorna Oriahovitza, but held two personal exhibitions of her oil paintings and some video presentations named “Metamorphoses of Painting Matter, Light, Space, and Color.”

           No market for art exists for Irena where she lives. She says, “I started to draw illustrations because of your Illustrators’ Contest.  I have never published an illustration because I haven’t ever created one.”

           At this writing, Irena is ardently working on illustrations to present in her portfolio.  She and her husband, Yanko, argue over who will be first to use their newly purchased computer.