Cue the confetti! Just last week, the 101st class of National Medalists of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards—the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for young artists and writers in grades 7-12—was announced.
This year, more than 110,000 teens from U.S. territories, Canada, and every state in the nation participated in the Awards, submitting nearly 340,000 works for adjudication. Of the works submitted, more than 90,000 regional awards were presented to nearly 50,000 students, and more than 2,500 works received National Medals. Student recognized this year join the ranks of esteemed Awards alumni including Tschabalala Self, Stephen King, Kay WalkingStick, Amanda Gorman, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol, and more, including the 2024 Alumni Achievement Award recipient, multidisciplinary artist and painter José Parlá.
Additionally, from the nearly 10,000 portfolios that were entered into the Awards for adjudication, 16 portfolios earned the program’s highest honor, the Gold Medal Portfolio Award, which includes a $12,500 scholarship.
This year’s Gold Medal Portfolio Award winners are:
Gold Portfolios Art:
- Scarlett Cai, Princeton, NJ
- Avery Davis-Fehr, Eden Prairie, NM
- Ashlin Kwong, La Grange, IL
- Jada McAliley, Towson, MD
- August Moon, Alexandria, VA
- Lia Musser, Arlington, VA
- Brenna Rusk, Grand Prairie, TX
- Walter Sanmartin, Miami, FL
- Beverly Zheng, Alpharetta, GA
Gold Portfolios Writing:
- Celina Bagchi, Fort Washington, PA
- Diemmy Dang, Pottstown, PA
- Aina Marzia, El Paso, TX
- Isa Nava, San Antonio, TX
- Adiyah Parham, Baltimore, MD
- Addison Rahmlow, Slinger, WI
- Kashvi Ramani, Andover, MA
In celebration of the Award’s second century medalists, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, which administers the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, hosted its annual Scholastic Awards Benefit Dinner last Wednesday, June 12.
The event, which took place in at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City, was co-Chaired by Derek Fordjour and his wife, Alexis Hoag-Fordjour, and Sasha Quinton, President, Scholastic School Reading Events. Alliance Board Member and Scholastic SVP, Billy DiMichele, emceed the event.
The evening honored artist José Parlá, who was presented with the prestigious 2024 Alumni Achievement Award. This annual award is presented to esteemed alumni whose careers have influenced their industries and who credit the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as a pivotal moment that provided confidence to explore creative pursuits in their teenage years. Parlá received an Award in 1989 for art, and went on to create art based on his interest in hybrid forms of abstraction that visually translate urban life. His works speak to ideas about language, politics, identity, and how we define places and spaces.
The Alliance also presented Lindenmeyr Book Publishing Papers with this year’s Leadership Award. A donor for over two decades, Lindenmeyr is dedicated to helping its clients find the right paper for any book publishing project since 1859.
Other highlights of the evening included a poetry reading from 2023 National Student Poets Miles Hardingwood and Gabriella Miranda, as well as a special musical performance by China Forbes, lead singer and songwriter of Pink Martini, and a 1987 Awards alumna.
Overall, this year’s Benefit Dinner raised more than $570,000 in essential funding for the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and their Scholarship and Educators' Funds, which ensure that young people nationwide continue to receive encouragement to pursue their artistic endeavors!
Congratulations to José, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ 2024 Gold Medal Portfolio recipients, and all the national medalists!
Stay tuned for details about a virtual celebration taking place on Wednesday, June 26 honoring this year’s Gold Medal Portfolio Award recipients and National Medalists.
Find out more about this year’s Awards on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn, and visit artandwriting.org for a full list of honorees.
Header image: Alliance for Young Artists & Writers; Headshot: courtesy of José Parlá; Gala images: Christopher Zapata
