READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 4 October 2013 | Page 46
The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
invites teens to
break boundaries and make waves
with their creative talents
by submitting their original work to
the annual Scholastic
Art & Writing Awards to gain opportunities
for exhibition,
publication, scholarships and more
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Call for Submissions Opens with
More Scholarship Opportunities for Creative Teens than Ever Before
PRNewswire/ -- The annual Scholastic Art &
Writing Awards, the nation's longest-running, most
prestigious recognition initiative for creative teens, is
now open and offering more opportunities than ever
before for all public, private and home schooled
students in grades 7-12. As the largest source of
scholarships for young artists and writers, the
nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
annually bestows 15 high school seniors with the
highest possible honor, the Portfolio Gold Medal,
which is accompanied by a $10,000 scholarship. In
2014, a 16th Portfolio Gold will be awarded, thanks
to the generosity of the program's donors who
provided additional funds in honor of the program's
90th year. Further, the Alliance partners with over 60
colleges and universities to make more than $8
million in scholarships available to winning high
school seniors, with additional cash awards offered
to students of all grades, as well as teachers.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100907/SCHO
LASTICLOGO )
"We believe the world needs both makers and
breakers – those committed to expressing themselves
creatively, who push the boundaries of expression
and challenge the rest of us to do the same," said
Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the
Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. "These are the
leaders of tomorrow who are learning right now, via
the arts, to see the world differently and provide new
ideas and visions. Through the Scholastic Art &
Writing Awards, we're proud to encourage them on
their path to scholarships and the opportunity to
showcase their work on a national level."
Students in the U.S., Canada or in American schools
abroad may submit original works in any of the
Awards' 28 art and writing categories. All works are
evaluated based on originality, technical skill and the
emergence of a personal vision or voice, first
regionally through more than 100 affiliates of the
Alliance and then nationally by an impressive panel
of creative-industry experts. Through a blind judging
process, students' submissions are judged by
luminaries in the visual and literary arts such as
Nikki Giovanni, Red Grooms, Paul Giamatti, Faith
Ringgold, Wangechi Mutu, David Sedaris and
Andres Serrano, who have served as past jurors.
Since its founding in 1923, the Awards program has
developed an impressive legacy of identifying the
early promise of some of our nation's most
outstanding visionaries. Notable past Award alumni
include Truman Capote, Philip Pearlstein, Sylvia
Plath, Andy Warhol, John Updike and Stephen King
who won when they were teens. In more recent
years, famous names such as Myla Goldberg, Paul
Chan, Zac Posen, Lena Dunham and Erik Madigan
Heck have become alumni of the program.
Teenagers across the nation continue to astound
through this unique opportunity to be noticed for
their creative talents. More than 230,000
submissions were received for the 2013 program
year. From this incredible pool of art and writing
works, nearly 60,000 regional and 1,600 national
winners joined the ranks of prominent Awards
alumni, proving that the program's original mission,
to provide students who are accomplished in the arts
with the same honors as their athletic classmates, is
alive and thriving today.
Deadlines for art and writing submissions vary by
region, occurring throughout the winter months.
National Scholastic Art & Writing Award winners
will be announced in March 2014. In the meantime,
the Alliance will release its annual anthology, The
Best Teen Writing of 2013 and will launch this year's
traveling exhibition, Art.Write.Now.Tour 2013-14,
which will be on display for the public in Savannah,
GA, Albuquerque, NM, Pittsburgh, PA and Laramie,
WY. Additionally, the President's Committee on the
Arts and the Humanities, Institute of Museum and
Library Services and Alliance for Young Artists &
Writers will announce the new class of National
Student Poets, the nation's highest honor for youth
poets presenting original work, which is open
exclusively to winners of national Scholastic Art &
Writing Awards in poetry. These students will serve
as national poetry ambassadors for one year
beginning on September 22, 2013 when they are
appointed during a special ceremony at the National
Book Festival in Washington, DC.
The Alliance is grateful for its generous sponsors,
who provide funds to support and produce the
Awards: Scholastic Inc., the Maurice R. Robinson
Fund, Command Web Offset Co., the Institute of
Museum and Library Services, the President's
Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, The New
York Times, The National Endowment for the Arts,
Blick Art Materials & Utrecht Art Supplies, The
Gedenk Movement, 3D Systems, Golden Artist
Colors, Bloomberg LP, Amazon.com, the Bernstein
Family Foundation, the New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs and additional contributions from
numerous other individual, foundation and corporate
funders.
For more information about the Alliance, visit
www.artandwriting.org. Additional details about the
Awards can be found in the Media Room.
The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a
501(c)(3) nonprofit, identifies teenagers with
exceptional artistic and literary talent and brings
their remarkable work to a national audience through
the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Founded in
1923, the Awards program is the longest-running,
most prestigious initiative of its kind, having
fostered the creativity and talent of millions of
students through recognition, exhibitions and
publications. Over the past six years alone, students
have submitted more than a million works of art and
writing and over $30 million has been made
available in scholarships and awards to top winning
participants. The Alliance partners with more than
100 regional affiliates across the country to bring the
program to local communities, and works with a
network of more than 60 colleges and universities to
increase scholarship and award opportunities. With
the President's Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, the Alliance is a founding partner of the
National Student Poets Program, the country's
highest honor for youth poets, which selects five
students exclusively from current Scholastic Art &
Writing Award national poetry winners. More
information about the Alliance and its programs can
be found at www.artandwriting.org.
SOURCE Scholastic Inc.