The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is a nationwide arts competition open to all high school students, and Culver City High School art students from the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts have been recognized for their exceptional talent in the both areas of writing and visual art.
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From left, Anisa Khanmohamed, Azalie Welsh, Carmen Jovel, Benjamin Mullen, Ahin Ju, Principal Dr. Pam Magee, Elizabeth Bolas, Morris Ellis, Lara Evans, Nicholas Apodaca, Simone Miller and Tamara Mosher.
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Benjamin Mullen’s prize-winning photo
Seniors Lara Evans and Benjamin Mullen won Gold Key awards, the highest level of achievement, for their individual art pieces in visual art.
Eleventh grader Azalie Welsh also earned a Gold Key award for collection of poems. All three students will continue to compete in the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards national adjudication in New York City for further scholarship and award consideration.
Additionally, Elizabeth Bolas, Anisa Khanmohamed, Simone Miller, and Tamara Mosher won Silver Key awards for individual art pieces in photography, painting and sculpture. Nicholas Apodaca, Morris Ellis, Carmen Jovel, Ahin Ju and Tamara Mosher gained Honorable Mention for their artwork
The Scholastic Art Awards ceremony and exhibition will be held on Saturday, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond St., Pasadena, where the winners of the Regional Scholastic Arts Awards competition will be recognized for their achievements. All the Gold Key award recipients from the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts will have their artwork displayed in the galleries at the Armory. Starting Sunday, the exhibition will run through May 1 in the Mezzanine Gallery.
“Art competitions like these are highly competitive,” AVPA's co-Executive Director Kristine Hatanaka, who also runs AVPA's Visual Art Dept. “Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is one of the most competitive because it includes all schools in the entire region. Students who achieve Gold Keys are competing with students across the nation.”
“I’m always proud of the exceptional talent and creativity of my art students. It’s gratifying to see them receive the recognition of a national competition. I always encourage my students to take every opportunity to showcase their skills and creativity in visual art but also in other areas where they show exceptional talent. By competing, it opens other doors of possibilities to scholarships.”
Ms. Welsh, who won a Gold Key for her collection of five poems entitled “Itch,” said the award “gave me a true sense of accomplishment, knowing that my work was evaluated by professionals in their field.
“The transformation from a perception of what I wrote coming only from myself to my work being judged and acknowledged is a unique and rewarding experience.
“Its such a meaningful achievement to have received this recognition and now competing at the national level with students across the nation.”
For 88 years, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program has identified and documented the achievements of young artists and writers in the visual and literary arts. The numbers are huge. Thirteen million students have participated, 9 million have been recognized, and $25 million in awards and scholarships has been made available. Across the country, 165,000 students in grades 7 through 12 participate in the competition. At all levels, artwork is judged by three criteria: originality, technical skill and personal vision or voice.
For information: avpa.org.
