When Suffolk Art League volunteers skipped over Meghan Fee’s name when calling out the participants in the league’s annual student art show, she said she was “freaking out.”

She later realized it wasn’t because they forgot her. They were saving the best for last.

Fee, a Nansemond River High School student, won first place in the “Exhibit of Excellence,” a display of work from 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders from Suffolk.

“It was very shocking,” Fee said after the opening reception on Tuesday.

The show was judged by Jennifer Schero, who currently oversees the school and teacher programs at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk. From the 340 works submitted by 170 students, she chose 137 pieces by 116 artists to be in the show.

“It just gives us a chance to show off the great work they’re doing,” said Linda Bunch, executive director of the Suffolk Art League. “It’s an honor just to get your work in the exhibit.”

The show includes all kinds of artwork, including drawing, photography, paintings, sculpture, mixed media and more.

Bunch said it is good for aspiring artists to start having their work in galleries at a young age.

“It teaches them the process of finishing work by deadline, getting it prepared for the exhibit and doing the paperwork,” she said.

The show does not accept work from freshmen because they already get too many submissions to include, Bunch said. The art league has considered eliminating sophomores from participating in the show as well, but many juniors and seniors do not have time for art class in their schedule, Bunch said, through participating students do not have to be in art class currently.

First-place winner Meghan Fee submitted a digital painting and a sculpture made from found items. They won the award together.

“I was going through a lot of trouble with trying to mature and do things how I will need to be doing them down the road,” Fee said, explaining how she came up with the idea for her digital painting, which features a green woman falling upside down.

For her found items sculpture, Fee used a tree branch as a base and embellished it with string, nails and other items.

“It was an assigned, project, and I just did it different,” she said.

Juror Jennifer Schero said, “The confident and conceptual nature of Meghan Fee’s work captured my attention, specifically her sculpture. My eyes danced across the tangled web nailed around the knotted and contorted central form. Limbs appear captured in space and time.”

The Exhibit of Excellence is made possible by funding from the Suffolk Fine Arts Commission.

The show will be on display through March 2 at the Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Other award winners were as follows:

Second place — Colleen Bricker, Nansemond River High School

Third place — McKenna Hill, Nansemond River High School

Honorable mentions — Meaghan Davis of King’s Fork High School; Christyna Mencarini and Haley Miller of Nansemond River High School; Kaitlyn Rountree and Lu Zhang of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy

Judge’s choices — Shelby Brown, Daniel Hotte and Meghan Luning of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy; Richard Parks of King’s Fork High School