The 1991 Otto F. Dingeldein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts was presented Thursday to Carol Berry Horst, an elementary school art teacher in Jackson.

The award was announced at the Drury Lodge during a meeting of the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts. Don Strohmeyer presented the award to Horst.

Horst was cited for her long-time art instruction and efforts to stimulate community participation in and enjoyment of the arts.

Horst has bachelor's and master's degrees in art education from Southeast Missouri State University and formerly was an art teacher for the Quest Gifted Program at the university.

She's a free-lance artist, teaches private art lessons and has served as chairman of the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts board. Horst also has coordinated and taught the council's Summer Art Program the past four years.

The award, first presented in 1975, recognizes men and women whose artistic achievements have made considerable impact on the cultural enrichment of the community.

Past winners include Otto Dingeldein, Marjorie Suedekum, Jake Wells, Dan Cotner, Jean Bell Mosley, Aileen Lorberg, Jack and Betty Palsgrove, Wendy Rust, Ruth Knote, Grant Lund, James V. Parker, Mary Ann Gudermuth, Frances Crowley, and Judith Crow.

Criteria used for the award include support of the arts in the areas of either drama, writing, visual arts, music or dance; impact on community enrichment or state or national recognition; and the length of time involved in art-related activities.

The award is a radial design sculpture designed by Bruce LaPierre and created from copper by sculptor Tom Runnels.

Dingeldein and his wife, Emily, co-founded the council, formerly the Christian Arts Council of Cape Girardeau, in 1961-1962.

Both were involved in the organization's growth and development, which was formed to offer new opportunities for the public to enjoy and appreciate the arts.

Horst lives at 520 Elwanda in Jackson and has taught art in the Jackson School District since 1984.

She has organized Jackson art exhibits at West Park Mall and the Riverside Regional Library; her student posters won top honors at a national poster contest; and developed and taught individualized art curriculums specifically designed for nuerologically impaired students, blind students and EMH students.

She also was a teaching assistant in the English department at Southeast Missouri State University in 1989 and 1990.

She also is certified to teach English in Missouri for grades seven through 12.

As an art teacher for the Quest Gifted Program at Southeast, she developed a curriculum in creative problem-solving through visual thinking and created a lifetime brainstorm journal.

She previously was an art teacher and chair of the art department at Selvidge Junior High School in Eureka.

She's been a board member of the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts since 1986 and vice president of the Southeast Missouri Art Education Association.

She is a Sunday School teacher and past board member at St. Paul Lutheran Church and a Girl Scout troop leader.