Powerhouse Names from Entertainment to the White House Honor National Teen Medalists of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Contact: Allyson Barkan, abarkan@scholastic.com, 646-907-2684
The annual National Ceremony includes First Lady Dr. Jill Biden sharing a special tribute to America’s educators, Oprah Winfrey introducing the 2021 National Student Poets, and Leaders from the Stage and Screen Celebrating our Nation’s Creative Teens
NEW YORK, NY – June 3, 2021 – To celebrate the 2021 National Medalists of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, leaders of film, television, music and media will come together for one night to headline the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Virtual Ceremony. The evening will showcase the powerful and original voices of teenagers with remarks from GRAMMY Award® winning and Emmy® and Tony Award® nominated singer-songwriter, actress, author and producer Sara Bareilles; actress, singer and entrepreneur Kristen Bell; Emmy nominated stage and screen actor and singer Tituss Burgess; GRAMMY and Emmy Award winning singer, songwriter, actress, author, and television host Kelly Clarkson; Oscar® and Emmy Award winning actress, producer and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon; and global media leader Oprah Winfrey.
The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden will be participating in the event to pay special tribute to our nation’s educators who inspire creativity in their classrooms and serve as guides and mentors to their students throughout their creative journeys. Additional highlights of the night will include a poetry reading from this year’s National Student Poets, selections from the award-winning works of art and writing, and an appearance from this year’s Alumni Achievement Award recipient, painter Tschabalala Self.
The 60-minute virtual celebration—publicly available for all to view and enjoy free of charge—will begin at 7:00pm ET on June 9, 2021, and can be viewed here: https://www.artandwriting.org/celebrate/
“In a school year unlike any in the 98-year history of the Awards, the original works recognized in the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards tackle complex issues, world-altering events, and deeply personal subjects. It has been inspiring to get to know these students and to have the opportunity to see the world through their eyes,” said Christopher Wisniewski, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. “This year’s National Medalists are passionate, engaged, skilled, and strikingly original communicators, and it’s clear that their voices will resonate for years to come. I look forward to celebrating their achievements and giving their urgent work a national platform with this star-studded event, and am even more excited to see all that they accomplish in the future.”
Now in its 98th year, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for young artists and writers in grades 7–12. Nearly 1,700 students received national medals in the 2021 Awards, selected from approximately 230,000 submissions from students in every state in the nation. The Awards serve as a launching pad for furthering students’ future success by providing them with access to scholarship programs and workshops, as well as the ability to have their work published and displayed in regional and national exhibitions. Past recipients of the Awards include Amanda Gorman, Stephen King, John Updike, Kay WalkingStick, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, Sylvia Plath and Andy Warhol. The Alliance annually provides more than $300,000 in scholarships to top Awards recipients and continually partners with esteemed colleges and universities to make millions more in scholarships available for college-bound National Medalists.
About the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are presented by the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and are made possible through the generosity of Scholastic Inc., The Maurice R. Robinson Fund, New York Life Foundation, Command Companies, The New York Times, The Herb Block Foundation, Blick Art Materials & Utrecht Art Supplies, Quad, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ray Bradbury Foundation, Salesforce, Garcia Family Foundation, Lindenmeyr, the Salamander Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation, Golden Artist Colors, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and numerous other individual, foundation, and corporate funders; and, for the National Student Poets Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Hearthland Foundation, the Poetry Foundation, and Academy of American Poets.
For more information about the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, visit artandwriting.org. Additional details about the Awards can be found in the Scholastic media room: //mediaroom.scholastic.com/artandwriting.
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