Ten high school and middle school students from North Dakota earned recognition this week at the 2016 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
The awards are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for students in grades 7-12. Students from North Dakota received 11 national medals, an increase from two a year ago. Students were required to earn a gold key at the state level to be eligible for national recognition. The Red River Valley Writing Project at North Dakota State University and Plains Art Museum partnered to judge a regional competition.
Major awards:
· Beatrice Kjelland, sophomore, Park River High School. Kjelland won the American Voices Award for her personal essay about her immigration from Liberia to the United States.
· Breanna Sullivan, sophomore, Grand Forks Central High School. Sullivan won the American Visions Award for her drawing “Urban Fungi.”
· Heather Talma, senior, Fargo North. Talma earned a gold medal for her flash fiction story “The Water Prince.”
· Megan Vetter, senior, West Fargo Sheyenne High School. Vetter was awarded silver medals for art and writing.
Other silver medal winners were Evin Avery, senior, Fargo North; Nick Hoidahl, senior Grand Forks Community Alternative School; Zach Howatt, junior, Northern Cass High School; Gabrielle Feather, 8th grade, Turtle Mountain Community School; Sophie Glessner, senior, West Fargo Sheyenne High School; Katie Snyder, 8th grade, Schroeder Middle School in Grand Forks.
More than 300,000 pieces of art and writing were submitted at the regional level in 28 categories, including poetry painting, architecture, short story and fashion design. All award-winning high school seniors gain access to a scholarship pool of more than $10 million through Alliance for Young Artists and Writers partnerships.
All art and writing submissions are judged based on originality, technical skill and emergence of personal vision or voice. The program has fostered the creativity and talent of millions of students since it began in 1923. Alumni include Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Sylvia Plath, Stephen King, Zac Posen and Lena Dunham.
National Award winners are invited to attend a celebration in New York City in June.
Sponsors are Scholastic Inc., The Maurice R. Robinson Fund, Command Web Offset Co., The New York Times, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, The National Endowment for the Arts, Blick Art Materials & Utrecht Art Supplies, The Gedenk Movement, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Golden Artist Colors, the Bernstein Family Foundation, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Duck Tape, Colossal Media, 3D Systems, numerous other individual, foundation, and corporate funders; and, for the National Student Poets Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.