The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers will present their national awards to hundreds of seventh through 12th graders across the country at Carnegie Hall next month, including Lisa Su, 18, a student at Washington Carver School for the Arts and Technology in Towson, Md., who was one of only eight national Gold Medal winners in the Art Portfolio category, the Baltimore Sun reports.
“I think the quiet sensitivity is there in the work, but it still has a presence,” the paper quoted Joe Cypressi, one of her teachers and the department chair for the visual arts department at the school, as saying.
For a complete list of winners, click here.
Ms Su said she will attend the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence next fall, where she expects to continue to develop her three-dimensional work, which she began as a child.
About the awards
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards has an impressive legacy dating back to 1923. Over the years, the awards have grown to become the longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in the US, and the nation’s largest source of scholarships for creative young artists and writers. For her gold medal, Ms Su will receive a $10,000 cash scholarship.
A noteworthy roster of past winners includes Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, John Updike, and many more.
Each year, the Alliance partners with more than 100 visual and literary-arts organizations across the country to bring the awards to local communities. Teens in grades seven through 12 can apply in 28 categories of art and writing for the chance to earn scholarships and have their works exhibited or published. Submissions are juried by luminaries in the visual and literary arts, some of whom are past award recipients. Panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.
In the last five years alone, students submitted nearly 900,000 original works of art and writing. During that period, more than 60 top arts institutes and colleges have partnered with the awards to make $40 million in scholarships and financial aid available to regional and national Scholastic Award winners.
