Blue Ridge Community College students Stephanie Bottoms and Jay Ripley recently won national awards for poetry and artwork from the Community College Humanities Association.

Bottoms, a Verona resident, won an Honorable Mention award for her poem, The Reese’s Klondike Dance, published in 540 Magazine, BRCC’s literary magazine. Bottoms is a College Transfer major at BRCC and plans to study neuroscience at The College of William and Mary.

Ripley received an Honorable Mention award for his acrylic paintings, six of which also appeared in 540 Magazine. The Mount Sidney resident is pursuing an associate’s degree in art and is employed as a tattoo artist.