A ramen-loving fifth grader’s original hand-drawn artwork will soon grace hats, tote bags and T-shirts around Greenpoint after the trendy nabe chose her design to represent a popular grocery store.
Rosemary “Rosie” Burgess’ ramen-eating seal won the design contest this month by Jubilee Marketplace as it searched for inspiration for its next merch collection and a way to bolster community in the trendy nabe.
“I was surprised. Now I feel good!” Rosie, 10, told The Post after taking home the prize, adding that the initial shock mostly came because she “forgot about” the contest.
The competition was only open to fourth- and fifth-grade students at PS 31, but invited the entire neighborhood to cast their votes for what Jubilee should plaster across its next merch collection.
Shoppers slapped stickers on their favorite designs — which included some of Brooklyn’s iconic water towers and the view of Manhattan’s skyline from Newtown Creek — on a massive banner that hung in the supermarket throughout February.
After the competition was whittled down to seven designs, Rosie took home 25% of the 822 votes.
Rosie learned of the good news last week when she was called down to the principal’s office, but the 10-year-old swears she wasn’t nervous that she was called in trouble.
When asked about her inspiration for the artwork, Rosie said: “Because I like seals! They’re cute.”
Although there’s no explicit mention or reference to Jubilee in the drawing, Roise drew from her favorite memories in the supermarket when it came to what meal the hat-wearing seal is munching on.
Spicy ramen is her favorite after-school snack to get at the shop, which her mom called the family’s “hangout.”
The blue hat was added simply because seals live in the cold, said Rosie, who said her hobbies are “painting” and “animals.”
The contest was dreamed up by Jubilee owner Young Kim, who was “trying to do something cool with the community.”
“What better artwork than from elementary students?” said Kim, who opened his Greenpoint location back in 2023 and credited his neighbors with helping him get it off the ground.
“We got tremendous support from the community, so I just thought it was good to give back.” continued Kim, who has made a name for himself for keeping grocery prices low in the expensive and trendy nabe.
Kim first released Jubilee merch in 2025, which was incredibly popular — and rivaled the virality of Trader Joe tote bags on a local level, prompting neighbors to beg for the new merch line in the new year.
Rather than paying the $1,000 to a designer, Kim donated the same total to PS 31’s culinary arts program, the first-of-its-kind extracurricular that allows students to chef up within the school.
He also awarded Rosie a $500 gift card to the local book shop, Word — which she plans to use on “stickers.”
The other six finalists didn’t go home empty-handed, however, and each was gifted a $100 voucher as well.
He’s also working with a local print shop to produce the tote bags, hats, T-shirts and more, he added, noting that he expects the line to drop in the next six weeks.
Kim’s generosity will continue even as the contest draws to a halt — he doesn’t plan to keep any profit, instead splitting it between a continued donation to PS 31 and a rotating list of local charities and food pantries.
“My philosophy on everything is to have a win-win situation for everybody, where we get to give back to the school and other organizations,” Kim explained.
“We’re providing something the customers will like, and at the same time, we’re also going to support another local business by doing this.”
The hardest part of the process for Kim was choosing the winner — a mission he punted off to school administrators and his very own customers.
Dozens of fourth and fifth-grade students submitted designs for his contest, but Kim left it to the school to pluck the top seven contenders that the shop owner blew up and posted on the wall of his grocery store.
Customers cast their vote by placing a star-shaped sticker next to their favorite and by voting on social media, with the majority closing in on Rosemary’s ramen-eating seal.
“I wouldn’t have been able to pick to be honest — they were all so good! If I were the one picking, we would have probably launched next year,” Kim said.
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