Since 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have been judging student work based on 3 original criteria: originality, technical skill, and emergence of personal vision or voice.
Flash forward to 92 years later and a quite few details surrounding the judging process have changed, but at its core, you could say that nothing has changed at all. The Awards founder Maurice R. Robinson dreamed of providing students who are accomplished in the arts with the same honors and recognition as their athletic classmates—and with these three criteria the Awards does just that with opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication and scholarships.
Today, National Adjudication for the 2015 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards began at Scholastic headquarters in New York City! Throughout the next two weeks, panels of creative-industry experts will blindly judge all Gold Key-winning works, sent in from the more than 100 Regional Affiliates throughout the country that run the Awards in their local areas.
Year after year, we see truly incredible pieces of art and writing from teens in grades 7-12 emerge from the Awards, whether it’s 3D printing, poetry, architecture or works in any of the 28 categories (check out the amazing 2014 Portfolio Gold medalists from last year here and here). These talented students join the ranks of notable alumni such as Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, Sylvia Plath, Robert Redford, Stephen King, Richard Linklater, Kay WalkingStick, Zac Posen and Lena Dunham, all of whom won Scholastic Art & Writing Awards when they were teens.
Congratulations to all of the regional winners from across the country! Be sure to follow the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers for updates. All national winners will be announced on March 16, 2015.
Photo via the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
