Scholastic Art and Writing Awards!!

In late 2024, I submitted 10 (?) pieces of artwork to the Scholastic Art and Writing competition, which is the oldest and most prestigious creative competition for teenagers, ever. It can open amazing doorways for the winners, such as scholarships, amazing opportunities, recognition for your work, and a pretty awesome thing to put on your college applications. Somehow, I had not heard of this before, but I’m SO glad I heard about it this year…

If you’re unfamiliar with this contest, no worries, so was I. :) Essentially, grades 7-12 kids from all over submit artwork to the Scholastic Art and Writing awards, and a panel of judges choose the best works from each region. There are three level-ish categories: Honorable Mentions, Silver Key, and Gold Key. Gold keys are the fanciest award you could possibly receive as an artistic teenager. Sadly, you are not given an actual key made of gold, as cool as that would be (like a key to the city that they give to superheroes) but you do get to put “Scholastic Gold Key Award Winner” on your stuff, which is still cool. Silver Keys, while not as high on the rankings, are also a ridiculous achievement, and they give you amazing bragging rights. (Just kidding, I hope all the winners are gracious and not that snobby :) also, chances are you’ll have to explain what it is you won to whomever you’re bragging to. Not that I would know.)

To enter the art side of the contest, you can submit one of your works to go on to the judging, (or many works, but there is a fee for each submission) or, if you’re a senior, you can also enter your portfolio for review, which has its own special category. There are a ton of different categories for art, including Drawing and Illustration, Painting, Sculpture, Animation, Printmaking, Sequential Art, and about fifteen more that are annoyingly slipping through the cracks of my memory right now.

I submitted work to I believe four (?) categories: Drawing and Illustration, Sculpture, Sequential Art, and Printmaking. I won one Gold Key, two Silver Keys, and four Honorable Mentions. I am SO PROUD.

Here are the works that won:

Gold key winner:

My Giant Pacific Octopus, made with Prismacolor colored pencils and cheap Crayola Supertip Markers. I have another blog post that goes more in depth on this work here. I’m really proud of this piece, and I really think it deserves the Gold Key.

Silver Key winners:

“Rusalka, Rusalka; The Wild Rushes” is a piece I did summer of 2024 for a concert I was going to with my dad. It was an unscheduled Decemberists ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ tour stop, conveniently right across the river from our house. I made this linocut after one of my favorite songs by the Decemberists, and I was going to give it to Colin Meloy, the lead singer and also Carson Ellis’ (an AMAZING illustrator) husband. I wrote my email on the piece, and just as Colin Meloy was in sight, the venue people stopped me and insisted that THEY give it to him instead. Bitter? Who’s bitter? Anyway, if you’d like to hear more about how this piece was made, here’s a blog post about my process!

The second Silver Key winner was this piece, creatively entitled “Great Blue Heron.” This piece was also made with Prismacolor colored pencils and Crayola Supertip washable markers. I love this one. It’s one of my favorite works I’ve ever made, and I think it really deserves the Silver Key Award. Here’s another blog post about my process on this work.

Honorable Mentions:

This piece is actually a double award winner! Not only has this received the Lois Eskenazi Award at the Indianapolis Art Center, but now it also has a Scholastic Art and Writing Honorable Mention under its belt! This piece, entitled “Restaurant Birthday Song” was made with India ink and a thin paintbrush of indeterminate brand. (the label rubbed off from being used too much) I made this piece in 2023, and I’m actually not as proud of it as some of my other works. I’ve been considering redoing it. Still, I’m proud of the Honorable Mention!

This piece is another honorable mention winner! It’s another Blue Heron, (surprise, surprise) but made with pen and ink this time! This is also an older piece, and not so much one of my favorites, but I think it has some really nice elements to it.

Another older piece! I made this last year for a project with the Teen Arts Council at the Indy Art Center - a group which has since been disbanded. My theme was famous literature. This is one of three works I made in this theme and inky hatching style. (The other two are Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” and Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Raven.”) All three of these works were also displayed at the Indianapolis Downtown Central Library for a time.

And last but not least, my Pattern Piece! (Hey, a rhyme!) I have another blog post about this work here. This piece, named “Salty” was made on Bristol Board paper and illustrated with India Ink and a paintbrush I found in the road, and colored in Photoshop. I am so proud of this piece. I made this a few years ago, actually, for Pattern Magazine’s Food Edition. More on that in my blog!

Overall, I am so proud of all of these works. Big thank you to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards people for providing me with this amazing opportunity!

If you’d like to see the Central and Southern Indiana regional Gold Key Award-Winning pieces in person, (including mine!!!) they are currently on display at the IU indy Cultural Arts Gallery until February 28th. In April, half the works will be moving to the Indianapolis Central Library, and the other half will be moved to the Indianapolis Artsgarden.

Thank you all for reading!