The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers Honors 17 APS Students

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers announced that 17 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

• H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program juniors Grace Chen and Khulan Erdenedalai, and sophomore Elizabeth Brown: Banana: an Asian-American story (Film and Animation)
• Wakefield High School senior Juliet Gerensky-Greene: Florence (Digital Art)
• Wakefield High School sophomore Rachel Hocker: Old and New (Photography)
• Yorktown High School senior Mark Hosmer: Arco Iris (Painting)

Art Awards – American Visions Medal

• Yorktown High School senior Mark Hosmer: Arco Iris (Painting)

Art Awards – Silver Medalist

• H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program junior John Barnes and freshman Lex Garcia: The Case of the Unacademic Integrity (Film & Animation)
• Yorktown High School senior Isabella Check: World Tortise (Drawing & Illustration)
• Washington-Liberty High School senior Charles Ciccoretti: Shadows (Film & Animation)
• Yorktown High School sophomore Roman Diascro: Victorian Still Life (Digital Art)
• Wakefield High School sophomore Evelyn Escobedo: Tiny Town (Photography)
• Yorktown High School senior Megan Fernandez: Mugshot (Drawing & Illustration)
• Washington-Liberty High School junior Eugene Lim: On The Other Side (Painting)
• Wakefield High School junior Amichai Maciel: Family Vacation (Photography)
• Wakefield High School junior Renee Whiffen: Julia (Drawing & Illustration)

The program, currently in its 97th 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 virtual 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 Chris Monroy in the Arts Education Office at 703-228-6299.