Johnny A. Williams, a sculptural wood artist and furniture maker from Newtown, has been announced as the winner of the inaugural $1,000 grant from Newtown Commission on the Arts. Kateleen Foy, a photographer and graduate of Newtown High school, was announced as runner-up.

Each will be invited to show and sell their works at the 2013 Newtown Arts Festival. They will have featured space in NCAC’s tent. In addition, for the upcoming year Mr Williams and Ms Foy will have the services of the Press/Public Relations Committee of Newtown Cultural Arts Commission to announce their shows and achievements as long as they are identified as a winner of the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission grant.

The grant was funded from the proceeds of the Newtown Arts Festival held last year, and sponsored by the commission.

Mr Williams notes that he creates one of kind heirloom furniture, but adds that he also does more experimental sculptural objects. A graduate of College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking, he is recipient of the James Krenov Memorial Scholarship there and was the Woodwise columnist on the website Apartment Therapy.

A senior at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and a graduate of Newtown High School, Ms Foy has had her work appear on CNN, ABC, CBS, CTFox/Hartford Courant, as well as overseas. Her Healthy Living photograph, “Rackets,” is currently on display along Kennedy Park Boulevard in Danbury.

This year’s arts festival, returning to Fairfield Hills, is set for September 21-22. It will be a culmination of a week of cultural activities.