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Posted December 29th, 2008 by admin

Art & Writing Awards

AT–A–GLANCE
What is it?

Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the nation's longest-running, most prestigious educational initiative supporting student achievement in the visual and literary arts.  The program has an impressive 90-year legacy of being the first to acknowledge creative talent and is today's largest source of scholarships for creative teens.

Who's it for?

Creative teenagers in grades 7-12 from public, private and home schools throughout the U.S. and its territories, as well as American-run schools abroad and students who make art and writing through community organizations.

Visit the Web Site

artandwriting.org

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More Information

Lia Zneimer
lzneimer@scholastic.com
(212) 343-6901

Anne Sparkman
asparkman@scholastic.com
(212) 343-6657

WATCH VIDEO
Every Big Artist Starts Small

The Alliance partnered with Ovation TV to create a Public Service Announcement featuring interviews with Scholastic Award winners. This PSA is part of an Ovation TV campaign called “Every Big Artist Starts Small.”

Art & Writing In The News

THE TAKEAWAY Yan Zhang, 17, of Omaha, speaks about her Award-winning writing portfolio, explaining, “You’re always developing your voice, whether you’ve written for 50 years or five years.”

THE STAR-LEDGER Batrek Yassa, 17, created a stunning art portfolio drawn from his life. The pieces won him not only an Award, but also acceptance to Cooper Union, a prestigious art school in New York City.

KPTV (FOX - LAKE OSWEGO, OR) 17-year-old Elise Wunderlich’s art portfolio is diverse. From puzzle pieces to eggshells, Elise incorporates various mediums into her work, earning her top honors in the 2012 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

MILWAUKEE PUBLIC RADIO – “LAKE EFFECT” Portfolio Gold winners Leo Purman, 18, and Drew Shields, 17, joined Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, for a radio interview before traveling to New York City to accept their Awards.

THE TIMES-PICAYUNE This article profiles Sarah Devlin, 18, whose films—many of which highlight local New Orleans culture—earned recognition in the 2012 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Winning a Scholastic Art & Writing Award brought me from high school in Wichita, Kansas, to art school in New York City. It changed the course of my life.

—— Tom Otterness, acclaimed American sculptor, public artist and Awards alumnus

The 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Photo and Video Downloads

(right click on a photo and click 'save as' to download a hi-res version)

Photos


Actress and arts advocate Sarah Jessica Parker
delivered the keynote address to almost 1,000
high school students and their families at the
national ceremony for the Scholastic Art & Writing
Awards, New York City, May 31, 2013.
 

Fashion designer Zac Posen, actress and arts advocate
Sarah Jessica Parker, and entertainer Usher backstage
at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the Scholastic
Art & Writing Awards, May 31, 2013.
 

Entertainer Usher talks backstage with the Portfolio Gold Medalists at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards at Carnegie Hall in New York City, May 31, 2013.
 

Portfolio Gold Medalist Luisa Banchoff reacts to meeting
actress and arts advocate Sarah Jessica Parker, while
Olivia Morgan of the President's Committee on the Arts
and the Humanities looks on, at the Scholastic Art &
Writing Awards in New York City, May 31, 2013.
 

"Girls" star Adam Driver at the Scholastic Art &
Writing Awards' 90th Anniversary Benefit at the
Edison Ballroom, New York City, May 31, 2013.
 

 
"Girls" star Adam Driver performed a spoken word piece on stage at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards' 90th Anniversary Benefit at the Edison Ballroom, New York City, May 31, 2013.

 

Fashion designer Zac Posen presented the inaugural Posen Design Award to high school senior Greg Dugdale at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards' 90th Anniversary Benefit at the Edison Ballroom, New York City, May 31, 2013.

 

Video

To view video excerpts( for media use only):

(

To download award ceremony excerpt (for media use only):

Award Ceremony Excerpt (MP4-208MB)

Watch webcast replay of National Ceremony here.

Press Releases

Archived Press Releases

Highlights

What is the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards?

  • The Awards recognizes student achievement in the visual and literary arts in 28 categories, including poetry, graphic design, fashion, science fiction, video game design and more.
  • Over the past 90 years, the Awards has recognized and encouraged millions of students including Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Sylvia Plath, Zac Posen, Lena Dunham, Joyce Carol Oates, Ken Burns, Truman Capote and others who won when they were teens.
  • An Award signifies to parents, teachers, the community and colleges that a student is an accomplished artist or writer.
  • The Awards offers opportunities for creative teens to earn recognition, exhibition, publication and scholarships.
  • Each year, 15 recipients receive the Portfolio Gold Award, which includes a $10,000 scholarship.
  • Through the Scholarship Provider Network, graduating seniors who earn a National Medal are eligible for an additional $9.5 million in college scholarships at more than 60 schools, institutions, and universities.
  • Additional cash awards are offered to students in all grades, as well as teachers.
  • 116 Regional Affiliates throughout the country run the Awards in their local communities and areas of operation.
  • 30,000 teen artists and writers are recognized in their regions each year.  Over the past five years alone, there have been more than 900,000 submissions.
  • Each work of art and writing is blindly adjudicated, first locally through the 116 affiliates of the Alliance, and then nationally by panels of judges comprised of renowned artists, authors, educators and industry experts.
  • Works are judged on originality, technical skill, and emergence of personal vision or voice.

What is The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers?

  • The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers is the national nonprofit organization that presents The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and provides additional opportunities for creative teens to be recognized for their talents and to earn scholarships for their education.
  • The Alliance’s mission is to identify teenagers with exceptional artistic and literary talent and bring their remarkable work to a national audience.
  • The Alliance also serves as source of information for organizations and individuals who wish to support the creative development of our nation’s teenagers.
  • With the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Alliance is a founding partner of the National Student Poets Program, the country’s highest honor for young poets which is open exclusively to winners of national Scholastic Awards in poetry. Five students are selected annually.
  • The Alliance is grateful for its sponsors, who generously provide funds to support and produce the Awards: Scholastic Inc., the Maurice R. Robinson Fund, The New York Times, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Command Web Offset Co., the AMD Foundation, Blick Art Materials, the National Endowment for the Arts, 3D Systems, New York Life, Bloomberg L.P., Ovation, Amazon.com, the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, the Bernstein Family Foundation, Duck Tape®, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and contributions from numerous other individual, foundation, and corporate funders.

National Student Poets Program Events

Luisa Banchoff
- April 26-27: With the Red Mountain Writing Project in Birmingham, AL, Luisa will collaborate on student and teacher workshops focusing on the power of words in effecting change to honor the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement.

Miles Hewitt
- April 5: Miles will visit classrooms in Boise, ID to read and facilitate poetry exercises with students.
- April 6: With the Idaho Commission on the Arts, Miles will be part of the “Coast of Idaho” Reading Panel in Boise, ID.
- April 20, 22: Miles and Christopher Luna, Clark County Poet Laureate, will facilitate a poetry workshop for youth, ages 6 – 12, in collaboration with the At Home At School program at the University of Washington, Vancouver. On April 22, students that participated in the poetry workshop will present their writing at Miles’s school, the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics.

Claire Lee
- On Mondays and Wednesdays throughout the month of April, Claire will conduct a series of workshops for third- and fourth-graders to help students strengthen their reading and writing skills as part of the East Harlem Tutorial Program in New York City.
- April 17: Claire will read original works at the annual Academy of American Poets gala, which directly benefits National Poetry Month.

Natalie Richardson
- April 20: Natalie will be featured as part of Feed Your Soul, a poetry festival for engaging those on the community who are new to poetry, hosted by 826michigan, Inside Out Literary Arts and the Detroit Public Library.

Lylla Younes
- April 27: Lylla will conduct a workshop with inner-city youth in Albuquerque, NM in partnership with the New Mexico Department of Health and the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
 

ART.WRITE.NOW Tour

ART.WRITE.NOW, a traveling exhibition of select Scholastic Art & Writing Award-winning works, highlights some of the most stunning examples of teen-produced art and writing in the nation.

Upcoming Cities

  • National Exhibition at Parsons The New School for Design and the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York City: June 1 - June 15, 2013

Past Cities

  • Fort Worth Library, Fort Worth, TX: March 7 – April 27, 2013
  • College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI: September 29 – November 3, 2012
  • Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA: November 16 – December 30, 2012
  • Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City, MO: January 24 – February 22, 2013
  • National Exhibition at Parsons The New School for Design, New York City: June 2 -- June 16, 2012
  • New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, New Orleans, LA: March 29 --- April 27, 2012
  • National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA: February 16 -- March 14, 2012
  • Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR: January 4 -- January 27, 2012
  • Chicago Urban Art Society, Chicago, IL: Nov 20 -- Dec. 16, 2011

To get high-res images from the ART.WRITE.NOW  traveling exhibition, click here.

 

 

 

Archived Press Releases