ATTENTION, YE FAITHFUL (AND TALENTED)!  We announce...
The Winner of THE FIRST CHURCH'S HOLY FAN ART CONTEST!

The first thing we wish to do is to apologize for taking so long to announce the winner.  Thank you very much for your patience.  Secondly, we want to thank everyone who entered the fanart contest.  You will find all the entries below.
Click on the thumbnail to open the full-size version of each piece in a new browser window.
Our first entry in the fan art contest is the one below of the big and cuddly spirit of the forest we have all come to know and love so much; yes, dear friends, we mean Totoro, as rendered here by Shannan McKenzie, age 5.
 FA01:  Totoro by Shannan McKenzie
This nippy little pop-art/minimalist/4-bit view of Spirited Away was created by Elaine.
 FA02:  Spirited Away by Elaine
And these two witty takes on No Face from Spirited Away are brought to us by Susan Shore (or is it Emmy?  She sent them from two different accounts with two different surnames).
 FA02:  Spirited Away by SusanFA02:  Spirited Away by Susan
And the winner is...

"Spirited Away--Handful of Gold" by Susan Shore/Emmy!  Congratulations!  While it may subvert the way San actually was in the movie, there is nothing wrong with a little bit of healthy irreverence now and again, and that struck us, as well as the great art style.  Due to Brother Koutoku's untimely demise, the current First Church E-mail address has been retired.  When a new one comes up, please get in touch with us, Susan/Emmy.

Thank you all again for your entries, and I hope you had as much fun with this as we did.

Sister Kourin and the late Brother Koutoku, Co-Popes.
for the First Church of Hayao Miyazaki.