POULSBO — For the first time in three years, Viking Fest’s emblem has been designed by an artist other than Carrie Tilton. This year, the annual Barbara Krell Memorial Scholarship competition — which selects the winning event logo out of a pool of entries from the Northwest College of Art — heralded Susan Ogilvie.

A lifelong artist and mother of five, Ogilvie is in her freshman year at NWCA.

“It’s very gratifying,” she said. “I felt a little guilty about going to art school, but this is kind of an affirmation.”

For years, Ogilvie said she had wanted to upgrade her skills from being able to “draw really cute” to being able to “draw well.” That was her incentive for going back to school.

Now halfway through her first year at NWCA, her ink drawing of a girl in Norwegian garb in front of Poulsbo’s downtown is traditional.

“The Viking image is great, but I think the girl depicts the community … I sat down and thought, ‘What would appeal to the masses?’” she said, describing her creative process. “I just wanted to capture the little elements of Poulsbo.”

Validating her efforts, Ron Krell, chairman of the scholarship committee, said, “It had the traditional themes of Poulsbo, and that’s why the committee selected it.”

This year was one of the best in terms of contestant turnout as eight different artists entered their work.

2007 also marks the seventh year that Viking Fest’s logo has been determined by the scholarship contest in honor of longtime Viking Fest volunteer, amateur artist and community art docent Barbara Krell.

Krell lost her battle with breast cancer in 2000, and in her memory, contest winners are awarded a $1,000 scholarship in addition to the distribution of their artwork to the masses on T-shirts, buttons and posters before and during Viking Fest weekend in May.

“It actually startled me … because it’s not just personal anymore, now it’s public,” Oglivie said.

Oglivie has been a part-time resident of Poulsbo since she was an infant. She and her family found a permanent home here in 1984.

“I’ve participated in Viking Fest almost every year in one way or another,” she said. “As I’ve watched Viking Fest develop, I’ve found the core of it is the Norwegian people and heritage.”

This year’s weekend celebration — which commemorates the adoption by Norway’s parliament of its own constitution on May 17, 1814 — will kick off May 18 with the opening ceremonies at Kvelstad Pavilion in downtown Poulsbo.