The Richmond Art Region for which VMFA is the regional affiliate received 40 Scholastic National Art Awards, 9th in the total number of awards designated to any region out of the over 100 U.S. affiliates that received recognition. Virginia is served by the Southeast Region-at-large, and Arlington, Fairfax, Southwest, and Richmond Art regions. The nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers partners with regional affiliates to administer the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the country’s longest-running and most prestigious award and recognition program.
This year, more than 3,300 submissions were entered by Virginia students grades 7-12. Out of those submissions, 1,141 students received Gold Key, Silver Key, or Honorable Mentions. VMFThe Richmond Art Region for which VMFA is the regional affiliate received 40 Scholastic National Art Awards, 9th in the total number of awards designated to any region out of the over 100 U.S. affiliates that received recognition. Virginia is served by the Southeast Region-at-large, and Arlington, Fairfax, Southwest, and Richmond Art regions.A recognized 285 Gold Key, and 334 Silver Key award recipients at ceremonies held on March 1 and 2, 2014. Gold Key Works are exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the MWV Art Education Center through April 15, 2014. Thirty-five students from the Richmond Art Region have received 40 prestigious National Awards for their exceptional artwork. Out of the total, 18 Gold Medals were awarded and 22 Silver Medals were awarded. A complete list of national student winners is available here and Richmond Art Region medal-winning works can be found here.
Ellie Braun from Henrico High School was one of only 16 students nationally to receive a Gold Medal Portfolio award and a $10,000 cash scholarship for her portfolio, Closet Queens. Deep Run High School student, Alex Turner’s portfolio, The In Between, was recognized with a Silver Medal with Distinction that includes a $1,000 scholarship. This year’s regional American Visions Medal was awarded to Henrico High School’s Nia Campbell for her drawing, All Tied Up. In addition to these special recognitions, all National Award–winning high school seniors are now eligible to apply for a special pool of more than $8 million in scholarships, set aside specifically for them through partnerships with the Alliance and esteemed colleges and universities around the country.
This year’s Richmond Art Region National Medalists are:
1. Ellie Braun, 17, Silver Medal, Sassy, Drawing, Henrico High School, Teacher: Mary Scurlock
2. Ellie Braun, 17, Gold Medal, Malik, Drawing, Henrico High School, Teacher: Mary Scurlock
3. Ellie Braun, 17, Gold Medal Portfolio, Closet Queens, Henrico High School, Teacher: Mary Scurlock
4. Cierra Brown, 17, Gold Medal, Chroma, Digital Art, Clover Hill High School, Teacher: Jaime Barnett
5. Nicholas Buckingham, 18, Gold Medal, Feet of the Champions, Henrico High School, Teacher: Genevieve Dowdy
6. Nia Campbell, 16, Gold Medal, American Visions Medal, All Tied Up, Drawing, Henrico High School, Teacher: Genevieve Dowdy
7. Sophia Carr, 17, Gold Medal, Pot of Gold, Drawing, Henrico High School, Teacher: Genevieve Dowdy
8. Lilly Coward, 15, Silver Medal, Persian Pickle Duvet Cover, Design, Veritas School, Teacher: Sunny Rosebro
9. Kayla Cwiklinski, 16, Gold Medal, Follow the Yellow Brick, Mixed Media, Governor’s School for the Arts, Teacher: Victor Frailing
10. William Dabney, 17, Silver Medal, White Noise, Digital Art, Collegiate School, Teacher: Jere Williams
11. Perry Ensign, 18, Gold Medal, Big Red, Sculpture, Lee Davis High School, Teacher: Sheilah BeVille
12. Elizabeth Ezzelle, 16, Silver Medal, A Second Attempt, Film & Animation, Tucker High School, Teacher: Betsy Yost
13. Jack Foreman, 17, Silver Medal, Meat Grinder, Sculpture, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, Teacher: Susann Whittier
14. Abby Goss, 16, Gold Medal, Goat Adventure, Film & Animation, Home Schooled, Teacher: David Goss
15. Joanna Gray, 17, Silver Medal, London, Digital Art, Deep Run High School, Teacher: Carey McCray
16. Isaiah Henderson, 18, Gold Medal, Mind Flow, Drawing, Manchester High School, Teacher: Margaret Jackson
17. Kristin Hines, 13, Gold Medal, Man in the Sky, Mixed Media, Moody Middle School, Teacher: Andrea Owens
18. Anna Jennings, 17, Gold Medal, Flowers in Her Hair, Photography, Atlee High School, Teacher: Julie Fisher
19. Samantha McCoy, 16, Gold Medal, Pursuit of Clemency, Painting, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, Teacher: Jeff Hall
20. Jasmyn Moore, 17, Silver Medal, See Gulls, Photography, Potomac Falls High School, Teacher: Deborah Cooper
21. Nina Morris, 17, Silver Medal, Home on the Range, Digital Art, Chesterfield Technical Center, Teacher: Lynda Richardson
22. Christina Nelson, 17, Gold Medal, Sara, Drawing, Loudoun Valley High School, Teacher: Courtney Kincaid
23. Marisa O’Kleasky, 17, Gold Medal, Weston Lunatic Asylum, Photography, Midlothian High School, Teacher: Marie O’Kleasky
24. Jack Oliver, 18, Gold Medal, Harl, Painting, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, Teacher: Jeff Hall
25. Jack Oliver, 18, Silver Medal Portfolio, Impressions of Space, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, Teacher: Georgianne Stinnett
26. Amanda Orndorff, 16, Silver Medal, Broken Garden, Photography, Clover Hill High School, Teacher: Amanda Berneche
27. Connor Parsley, 15, Silver Medal, Ace of Spades, Digital Art, Hanover High School, Teacher: Debora Campbell
28. Miriam Perry, 17, Silver Medal, Tons of Questions, Tiers of Joy, Sculpture, Salem High School, Teacher: Erin Richburg
29. Sebastian Portuondo, 15, Gold Medal, Invasion, Photography, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, Teacher: Georgianne Stinnett
30. Sydney Primm, 17, Silver Medal, Caught in Contempt, Ceramics & Glass, Lloyd C. Bird High School, Teacher: MaryJo Gearles
31. Dylan Reissner, 18, Silver Medal Portfolio, Gender Studies, Henrico High School, Teacher: Mary Scurlock
32. Sufyan Shambley, 17, Silver Medal, The Skeptical Eye, Painting, Churchland High School, Teacher: Jean Stith
33. Cassie Sheedy, 16, Silver Medal, 7:42 California Time, Drawing, Loudoun County High School, Teacher: Gary Rudinsky
34. Maria Tahamtani, 16, Silver Medal, Nestled (Fine Silver & Pearl Ring), Jewelry, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, Teacher: Jeff Hall
35. Alex Turner, 17, Silver Medal, Artificiality II, Photography, Deep Run High School, Teacher: Michael Guyer
36. Alex Turner, 17, Silver Medal Portfolio with Distinction, The In Between, Deep Run High School, Teacher: Michael Guyer
37. Alex Turner, 17, Gold Medal, Between Two Arms III, Digital Art, Deep Run High School, Teacher: Michael Guyer
38. Benjamin Wong, 16, Silver Medal, Oh, The Places You’ll Go, Painting, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, Teacher: Jeff Hall
39. Madelaine Wood, 17, Silver Medal Portfolio, Taking Flight, St. Anne’s-Belfield School, Teacher: Alexis Parker
40. Joseph Zampetti, 16, Silver Medal, Hexachromatic, Drawing, Henrico High School, Teacher: Genevieve Dowdy
“The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards serve as clear validation of young artists’ and writers’ creative talent, persistence and promise in their respective fields,” said Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the administrator of the Scholastic Awards. “It is our honor to share in these defining moments of achievement for our nation’s teens and to elevate their unbelievable talent on the local, regional and national levels. We see it as a privilege to support them on their journey to becoming artists, writers, designers, doctors, business owners or any aspiration they are determined to realize.”
To celebrate the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ national winners, the Alliance will kick off this year’s National Celebration in New York City on June 5, 2014 with the first annual Maker Prom—a party with interactive art-making stations—at the Roosevelt Hotel, as well as the grand opening of the Art.Write.Now. National Exhibition, a large selection of Award-winning art and writing that will be on display at Parsons The New School for Design and the Pratt Manhattan Gallery. On June 6, 2014, students will be honored during a special awards ceremony live-webcasted from the world-famous Carnegie Hall, where they will be joined onstage by this year’s Alumni Achievement Award Recipient, Kay WalkingStick, whose career retrospective will open in 2015 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Following the ceremony, the annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Benefit will take place at The Edison Ballroom, and to further amplify the festivities that evening, the iconic Empire State Building will be lit in gold.
For 91 years, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have fostered the creativity and talent of millions of students through recognition, exhibitions, publications and scholarships. Alumni of the Scholastic Awards have gone on to continue their education at many of the top colleges and universities across the country, including Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Parsons The New School for Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University and Columbia University. Since its founding, the Awards program has identified the early promise of some of our nation’s most exceptional visionaries, including alumni such as Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath and John Updike, all of whom won when they were teens. More recently, Stephen King, Myla Goldberg, Zac Posen, and Lena Dunham have become celebrated alumni of the program. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is honored to exhibit such notable Scholastic alumni as Andy Warhol, Philip Pearlstein, Cy Twombly, Richard Avedon, David Salle, Red Grooms, and Charles White.
About the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
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, publications and scholarships. 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 creating original works, 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.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA’s permanent collection encompasses more than 33,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of world history. Its collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, English silver, Fabergé, and the art of South Asia are among the finest in the nation. With acclaimed holdings in American, British Sporting, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, and Modern and Contemporary art – and additional strengths in African, Ancient, East Asian, and European – VMFA ranks as one of the top comprehensive art museums in the United States. As of October 1,2013 VMFA was certified as a Virginia Green attraction for its efforts in providing recycling, minimizing the use of disposables, energy efficiency, and water conservation. Programs include educational activities and studio classes for all ages, plus lively after-hours events. VMFA’s Statewide program includes traveling exhibitions, artist and teacher workshops, and lectures across the Commonwealth. VMFA is open 365 days a year and general admission is always free. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum.
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