Scholastic Media Room

It’s the first week of June, and that means it’s time to recognize this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards recipients, who are following in the footsteps of Andy Warhol, Truman Capote and Joyce Carol Oates – among the famous artists and writers who received Art & Writing awards when they were teenagers. The awards are 85 years old this year, and on Thursday, June 5, more than 500 creative teens will come to Carnegie Hall in New York to be honored for their achievements. The highest awards – Portfolio Gold – will be given to 12 seniors, who have earned $10,000 scholarships. Selected artwork is on display at galleries in New York this week, and national recipients will be participating in work shops and attending seminars while in the city.

The awards identify and validate the next generation of the country’s best artists and writers – photographers, painters, poets, humorists and storytellers. Here are two stories published recently on Portfolio Gold winners, Shawn Smith and James Bertucci, who will be in New York this week. And here’s one posted this week to the LA Times education blog about 13-year-old Kendall Perrin.

Kids want to know what’s happening with the presidential election, too. So, to tell the story from the kids’ perspective, we turn to the intrepid Scholastic Kids Press Corps, which is gathering news everyday on the race to the White House—interviewing candidates, covering debates, quizzing reporters, and talking to the leading pundits. The Kid Reporter coverage pairs well with reporting done by Scholastic magazine editors and Election 2008 skills books produced to help kids learn about politics and democracy. Students in schools across the country can follow election news from the classroom at Scholastic News Online. Check out this video of Kid Reporter Jack Greenberg on Fox 61 in Connecticut discussing his experience on the campaign trail.

Scholastic.com has also built a Parent Guide to the 2008 Presidential Elections, which offers parents advice for how to talk about the news at home, and activities to help answer kids’ questions about the candidates.

Scholastic has some fun books perfect for teaching kids about the election and the presidency too. Try What To Do About Alice by Barbara Kerley about Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter Alice, or Otto Runs for President by Rosemary Wells—both for children ages 4–8.

The home of the big red dog loves being “green.” Scholastic is educating children about the environment while being a leader in greening the publishing industry.

Scholastic has just announced it will publish children’s book titles based on the BBC’s Planet Earth television series—printed on 30 percent recycled paper—and has recently launched a site called Act Green, where kids can learn how to be green at home and at school. Scholastic has also released the results of the first Kids Environmental Report Card, giving America an “F” in responding to global warming.

On the corporate side, Scholastic’s new Paper Procurement Policy ensures that 30 percent of all paper purchased for publications will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council by 2012. For insight into Scholastic’s green initiatives, listen to Francine Colaneri (MP3), Vice President of Manufacturing and Corporate Purchasing, who sat on a panel recently at the National Constitution Center to discuss “The Business of Going Green.”

Nine amazing students were named READ 180 All-Stars this month for turning their lives around and learning to read. A 5th-grader from Wisconsin who used to stutter when trying to decode basic words is now one of his school’s most gifted students. A 9th-grader struggled academically because when she moved from Mexico years ago she knew very little English and had trouble keeping up. Now she’s “the smart girl” again. If you would like to learn more about these students’ incredible stories, or speak with one of them, please contact Sarah Trabucchi at 212-343-6424.

Our intrepid Scholastic kid reporters (ages 9-14) are out in full force across the country covering the 2008 election—interviewing candidates, writing stories for Scholastic News and taking photos—to tell the stories from the kid perspective. If you would like to interview a kid reporter or editor at Scholastic News, contact Jennifer Boggs at (212) 343-6619. 

WordGirl, a 10-year-old superhero who uses her prolific vocabulary to fight villains, hit it big this past fall in her new show—aptly-named WordGirl—airing on PBS Kids Go. A product of Scholastic Media, WordGirl is the perfect example of “deceptively educational” television for kids. To speak with the show’s creators, contact Cathy Lasiewicz at (212) 343-6570. 

Everyday across American, 7,000 students drop out of high school. And according to the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), two out of every three 12th-graders read below grade level. We have found at Scholastic that, in many cases, these two startling stats are linked. Effective reading intervention—even for high school-age students—can put kids on a path toward success in school, give them renewed self confidence and help keep dropout numbers down in districts of all shapes and sizes. To find a school near you addressing these statistics, or to speak with an expert on dropout prevention, contact Sarah Trabucchi at (212) 343-6424.