The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers announced that 21 APS students have received recognition in the National Scholastics Art and Writing Competition.

Regional competitions award Gold and Silver Keys as well as Honorable Mentions. Gold Keys are sent on to the national level for competition.

This year, over 340,000 works were submitted to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers – receiving a National Medal places these students within the top 1% of all submissions.

This year’s Arlington Public Schools national award recipients are:

Art Awards – Gold Medalist

• Wakefield High School senior Carlos Lemus Acevedo: What Remains (Mixed Media)
• Wakefield High School junior Willow Boswinkle: Side View (Photography)
• Washington-Lee High School sophomore Abigail Cupp: texture (Digital Art)
• Washington-Lee High School senior Lily DiBenigno: Oh, Henry (Sculpture)
• Yorktown High School senior Olivia Evans: Abandoned (Photography)
• Wakefield High School sophomore Carmina Lopez: A-114 (Painting)
• Wakefield High School freshman Oliver Bullington-McGuire: A Collection of Memories (Drawing and Illustration)

Art Awards – American Visions Medal

• Washington-Lee High School junior Jamileth Picavia: melloyellow (Painting)

Art Awards – Portfolio Silver Medalist

• Yorktown High School senior Lila Araujo: Balance and Harmony
• Yorktown High School senior Philip Meany: Religion Deconstructed

Art Awards – Silver Medalist

• Washington-Lee High School senior Alina Batchila: Refueling (Drawing and Illustration)
• Yorktown High School senior Benjamin Carlson: clouded (Photography)
• H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program junior Owen Cullen: Lovecraftian Logistics (Film & Animation) (Won National Medal last year for the Dramatic Script for Lovecraftian Logistics)
• Williamsburg Middle School 8th grader Maddie Day: Snow Tiger (Painting)
• H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program sophomore Khulan Erdenedalai: Self-Reflection (Photography)
• Wakefield High School sophomore Liliana Gallegos: Cross Shot (Photography)
• Washington-Lee High School junior Charlotte Kelley: Josephine (Painting)
• H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program sophomore Grace Lynch: Now That We’re Gone (Painting)
• Yorktown High School Senior Ian Newton: Eclipse (Photography)
• H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program junior Emma Stevens: Lost (Painting)

Writing Awards – Silver Medalist

• H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program senior Cole Smyth: Hope’s Home (Personal Essay & Memoir)

The program, currently in its 96th year, is a national program recognizing outstanding creativity in teens and offers scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors. Teens in grades 7-12 can apply in 29 categories of art and writing for the chance to earn scholarships and have their works exhibited or published.

The national non-profit organization that presents the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards will honor students on Thu, June 6, at a gala celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Selected award recipients and high school seniors recognized with top honors will have their art exhibited at Parsons The New School for Design in New York. Selections from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are published in the National Catalog, Best Teen Writing, and Spark (anthology of work by middle school students), which are distributed free of charge to schools and libraries nationwide.

For more information, contact the Allison Gilbert in the Arts Education Office at 703-228-6299 (Art Awards) or the English Language Arts Office at 703-228-8045 (Writing Awards).