It’s that exciting time of year again—time for tens of thousands of students in grades 7–12 across the country to begin submitting original art and writing works to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards!
The Awards, presented by the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition initiative for creative teens, and they have a pretty impressive track record of identifying the early promise of some of our nation’s most accomplished visionaries (Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, Stephen King, Richard Linklater, Zac Posen and Lena Dunham, to name a few). In the 2015 program year, a record-breaking 300,000+ works were submitted to the Awards for adjudication at the regional level, with more than 1,900 public, private and home-schooled students receiving national recognition. You can view examples of past top-winning student works here!
Each year, exhibition, publication and scholarship opportunities are made available to students honored through the program for their creative work in 29 categories including architecture, photography, flash fiction, poetry, painting, video game design and more. New scholarship opportunities for creative teens in the 2016 program year include:
- A special Editorial Cartoon category sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation to promote awareness of the editorial cartoon medium and provide three young artists with $1,000 scholarships for their outstanding work;
- The Neiman Marcus Fashion Award and The Neiman Marcus Jewelry Award to provide one artist in each category with $1,000 scholarships; and
- The RBC Flaunt It Award to provide two $1,000 scholarships to students whose work showcases and celebrates individual differences.
In addition to the 2016 call for submissions, the Art.Write.Now.Tour 2015-16 kicks off its national tour today! This unique traveling exhibition publicly displays stunning examples of 2015 National Medalists’ art and writing. The Tour opens today at the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, FL and will make additional stops in Indianapolis, IN; Vermillion, SD; and Las Vegas, NV through May 2016. So, if you’re in the St. Petersburg area, be sure to check out the exhibition, which will be free and open to the public through October 25!
Interested in learning more about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards? Check out the Alliance’s Facebook or Twitter accounts to stay up to date on news and more. Deadlines for submission to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards vary by region throughout the winter months, with National Medalists announced in March 2016. Void where prohibited or restricted. More information is available online at: http://www.artandwriting.org/the-awards/guidelines-deadlines
We can’t wait to see all of the innovative and thought-provoking works that will be submitted this year! The talented young students who submit to and receive recognition in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are truly an inspiration to us all.
