Triadelphia Middle School eighth grader Sadie Murphy, left, poses with art teacher Cynthia Stahanczyk beside Murphy’s winning design for the Belmont Savings Bank 140th Birthday art contest. The design will be featured on birthday cards for the bank. Photo by Derek Redd

WHEELING — Triadelphia Middle School eighth grader Sadie Murphy enjoyed a birthday surprise Friday morning — sort of.

It wasn’t her birthday, but Belmont Savings Bank surprised her by announcing that her design will be used for the bank’s upcoming 140th birthday cards.

Bank representatives were at Triadelphia Middle on Friday morning to unveil the winning middle school artist design for Belmont Savings’ birthday card. The winning design among high school entries will be announced later.

“I was really surprised and really excited, too,” Murphy said. “It’s something I really enjoyed doing.”

Murphy’s design, created with colored pencils and shading pencils, depicts a huge blue and yellow birthday cake with balloons surrounding it and the Belmont Savings Bank logo adorning the top. Murphy said she worked through multiple options before she landed on the one that eventually won.

“It went through three, and the third one was my favorite,” she said.

Belmont Saving Bank President Todd Cover said the selection committee fielded 55 entries from 12 local middle schools. The group whittled the lineup to three finalists, then ultimately picked Murphy’s as the winner.

“It just encapsulated everything we wanted a birthday celebration to be,” Cover said. “It’s just a fun picture.”

Murphy’s art teacher at TMS, Cynthia Stahanczyk, said it has been a joy to watch Murphy grow as an artist while at Triadelphia.

“Sadie is such a wonderful student, both academically and artistically,” she said. “It’s been a pleasure to have her in class and watch her grow in her abilities. Along the way, I’ve just tried to foster her and nurture her abilities the best I can, and she puts so much time into her art. It’s just a winning combination.”