BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center recently announced that 107 young people from across Vermont have been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for their exceptional artistic and literary talent.
The students' award-winning artwork and writing will be exhibited at BMAC from Feb. 15 until March 7, culminating in an awards ceremony on Saturday, March 7, at noon.
Doors open at 10:30 a.m. The Awards Ceremony is free and open to the public. Vermont author Ann Braden will deliver the keynote address.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is a prestigious national recognition program for aspiring visual artists and writers.
Each year, students in grades 7-12 are invited to submit art and writing in dozens of categories, including ceramics, digital art, painting, photography, poetry, science fiction, and personal essay/memoir.
Submissions are judged on a statewide level, with the top award winners considered for national awards, including college scholarships, museum exhibitions, and publication opportunities.
Statewide awards consist of Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention. This year's Gold Key winners from Vermont are listed below. A list of all Vermont award winners appears on the BMAC website at brattleboromuseum.org. National awards will be announced by the end of March.
Since its founding in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have nurtured the talents and helped launch the careers of many creative visionaries. Past winners include Truman Capote, Lena Dunham, Stephen King, Sylvia Plath, John Updike, and Andy Warhol, among many others.
In 2014, Edil Hassan, a Somali refugee and high school senior from Burlington, joined that rarefied group when she was selected as one of only 16 recipients nationwide of the Awards' highest honor, a Portfolio Gold Medal and $10,000 college scholarship.
BMAC has administered the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for Vermont since 2011. According to BMAC Exhibitions Manager Sarah Freeman, participation in the program has grown steadily since its inception.
This year's award-winning work was selected from among a total of 625 submissions by 189 students from throughout the state.
Local “Gold Key” winners are as follows: Stella Achenbach, Grade 12, The Putney School; Jungnam Ahn, Grade 12, Vermont Academy; Sarah Annis, Grade 12, Vermont Academy; Sophie Banks, Grade 11, The Putney School; Natascha Belt, Grade 11, The Putney School; Tess Boutin, Grade 10, The Putney School; Aaron Brown, Grade 12, Vermont Academy; Broden Cedar, Grade 11, The Putney School; Steven Chen, Grade 12, The Putney School; Gabrielle Chisamore, Grade 11, Brattleboro Union High School; Jude Fidel, Grade 8, Stratton Mountain School; Lauren Goll, Grade 12, Vermont Academy; Andrew Gould, Grade 10, Vermont Academy; Livia Greenberg, Grade 12, Stratton Mountain School; Darwin Holcombe, Grade 12, Vermont Academy; Zirui Liu, Grade 10, The Putney School; Isabella Mertens, Grade 12, St. Johnsbury Academy; Iris Morehouse, Grade 8, The Grammar School; Zhenyu Qi, Grade 12, Vermont Academy; Sarah Robinson, Grade 12, Vermont Academy; Izabella Segui, Grade 11, Vermont Academy; Hazel Wagner, Grade 11, Brattleboro Union High School; Jingting Wang, Grade 11, The Putney School; Lingwen Zhang, Grade 11, The Putney School; Jiahui Zhu, Grade 12, The Putney School; and Qitai Zhu, Grade 10, The Putney School.