Attention, Creative Teens: How to Become an Exhibited Artist or Published Author

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nation's longest- running, most prestigious scholarship and recognition initiative for students in grades 7–12, is now open for submissions and invites all aspiring teen artists and writers to share their work. Over the past five years alone, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the nonprofit presenter of the Awards, has received more than one million original works from public, private and homeschooled students. The program provides top-winning artistic and literary teens with exhibition and publication opportunities, as well as access to millions of dollars in scholarships, while continuing its legacy of identifying the early promise of some of our nation's most exceptional visionaries.

To learn more about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, visit www.artandwriting.org.

Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers said, "People who have been successful in their fields, from artists to scientists, all have one thing in common. At one time they were teenagers looking for their first great encouragement. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are a platform of opportunity that allow teenagers to push artistic boundaries and explore as they are shaping themselves to be part of the next generation of leaders, no matter what field of study they plan to pursue."

Students in the U.S. and Canada, and those attending American schools abroad, are invited to submit creative works in the Awards' 28 categories, ranging from comic art to photography, flash fiction to poetry, video game design to novel-writing and more. All works are evaluated through a blind judging process based on originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal vision or voice—the same three criteria since the program's founding in 1923. Submissions are first judged on a regional level by the more than 100 affiliates of the Alliance, which bring the program to local communities across the country. Top regional submissions are then evaluated on a national level by an impressive panel of creative-industry experts. Luminaries in the visual and literary arts, including Andres Serrano, Edwidge Danticat, Kay WalkingStick, Roz Chast and Stephen Savage, have all served as past jurors.

Deadlines for submissions vary by region throughout the winter months, with National Scholastic Art & Writing Award winners announced in March 2015.

What it means to win a Scholastic Art & Writing Award:

• The outstanding students who win Scholastic Art & Writing Awards walk in the footsteps of celebrated creative leaders such as Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Sylvia Plath, Robert Redford, Stephen King, Myla Goldberg, Richard Linklater, Kay WalkingStick, Zac Posen and Lena Dunham, all of whom won an Award when they were teens.
• The Scholarship Partner Network includes more than 60 colleges and universities who set aside scholarships for Scholastic Art & Writing Award–winning high school seniors. With more than $10 million available, the program is the largest source of scholarships for creative teens.
• Each year, 16 high school seniors are awarded the Portfolio Gold Medal, which is accompanied by a $10,000 scholarship—the highest possible honor a student can receive through the program.
• Cash awards are also available to students of all grades, as well as teachers.
• Student writers may be published in The Best Teen Writing series of anthologies, which are available for purchase at amzn.com/0545818966.
• A large selection of student Scholastic Art & Writing Award–winning works will be on display in the Art.Write.Now. National Exhibition in New York City at Parsons New School for Design and Pratt Manhattan Gallery in June 2015. An annual traveling Art.Write.Now.Tour also brings student work to cities across the country. This year's tour is now open at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, and will travel to the Salt Lake City Public Library as well as the Catskill Art Society in Livingston Manor, New York.
• National winners will be honored during a special awards ceremony at the world-famous Carnegie Hall in New York City, where celebrities, families and teachers congratulate the student winners and encourage them to continue in their paths. To view this past year's ceremony online, visit www.artandwriting.org/carnegiewebcast2014.
• Five students in grades 9–11 are selected annually to serve as literary ambassadors as part of the National Student Poets Program, the nation's highest honor for youth poets presenting original work. Winning a Scholastic Art & Writing Award National Medal in poetry is the exclusive pathway to this honor, which is presented in partnership by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Alliance.

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, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, The National Endowment for the Arts, Blick Art Materials & Utrecht Art Supplies, 3D Systems, The Gedenk Movement, Golden Artist Colors, Bloomberg L.P., the Bernstein Family Foundation, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Duck Tape® and additional contributions from numerous other individual, foundation and corporate funders.

To learn more about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, visit the Scholastic Media Room online at mediaroom.scholastic.com/artandwriting.

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SOURCE Scholastic Inc.