New York, NY — June 2, 2010 — Hundreds of young artists and writers representing nearly every state in the nation will be honored at the 87th annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony to be held at New York's Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, June 9th. Conceptual artist Mel Bochner will be presented with an "Alumni Achievement Award" by fellow alum, artist Tom Otterness. Poet Carolyn Forché will also receive an "Alumni Achievement Award" from writer, law professor, and Award alum, Thane Rosenbaum,

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the country's oldest and most prestigious program offering early recognition and scholarships to creative teenagers. This year more than 600 Award winners will travel to New York City to have their achievements celebrated by family, creative industry leaders, educators and patrons. Actors Ben Foster and Michael Stuhlbarg will read selected works by Award recipients and poet Patricia Smith will perform an original piece written for this year’s Award winners. The Carnegie Hall celebration concludes with a special performance by singer/songwriter, Jill Sobule. A short time later, the Empire State Building will be lit in gold to honor the Scholastic Awards.

The nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers that presents the Awards, will also offer the students creative-industry workshops in New York City. They include "The Amateur Spirit," a talk by novelist and host of NPR’s Studio 360, Kurt Andersen; "The Guggenheim," a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum by director of photography Jennifer Blessing; a panel discussion on "The Future of Writing" with Found magazine’s Davy Rothbart and Rob Spillman from Tin House Books; and editorial meetings at Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker and People magazines.

Visitors can enjoy an exhibition of the award-winning artwork and writing of past and present winners at The World Financial Center in New York City's Battery Park June 9-25, Tuesday through Saturday. The public is also invited to Bryant Park on June 10th from noon to 2:00 p.m. to hear the young writers read their award-winning work.

Since Scholastic founded the program in 1923, the Awards have recognized such distinguished past recipients as Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Robert Indiana, Zac Posen, John Lithgow, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, Sylvia Plath, and Kay WalkingStick, who all received awards when they were in high school.

Each year, the Alliance receives tens of thousands of works of art and writing, submitted through regional affiliate programs across the nation for consideration in 25 categories of art and writing, including the newest category, videogame design. The submissions are evaluated locally and nationally by panels of jurors comprised of renowned artists, authors, educators and arts professionals.

Visit the online press kit for more information about The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.

Contact:

Yanique Hart Scholastic
212.343.6901
yhart@scholastic.com