BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) recently announced that 167 young artists and writers 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 Friday, Feb. 20, to March 6. An awards ceremony will take place at the museum Saturday, March 7, at noon. The ceremony is free and open to the public. Doors open at 10 a.m. Cartoonist and illustrator Harry Bliss who has designed more than 50 covers for the New Yorker, 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 seven through 12 are invited to submit art and writing in dozens of categories, including ceramics, digital art, painting, photography, poetry, science fiction, personal essay/memoir, and more. Submissions are judged on a statewide level, with the top award winners then considered for national awards, including college scholarships, museum exhibitions, and publication opportunities.
BMAC has administered the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for Vermont since 2011. Statewide awards consist of Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention.
Since its founding in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have nurtured the talents and helped launch the careers of many creative visionaries such as Truman Capote, Lena Dunham, Stephen King, and Sylvia Plath.
This year marks the highest levels of participation since BMAC began administering the Vermont Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, with 280 students from 43 schools throughout Vermont submitting a total of 707 works for consideration. One hundred sixty-seven students received a total of 279 awards — 59 Gold Keys, 60 Silver Keys, and 160 Honorable Mentions.
Three seniors were awarded Gold Keys for their portfolios (collections of six works), including Dashiell Moyse of Brattleboro Union High School, who also won an award in photography last year. They will now be entered into consideration for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ highest honor, a Portfolio Gold Medal, 16 of which will be awarded nationwide in both art and writing. Winners of Portfolio Gold Medals receive scholarship awards of $12,500.
Chloe Rosner, a senior at the Putney School, received eight awards in art, including a Gold Key and American Visions nomination for her painting “Sitting, Thinking.” Of the 59 works awarded Gold Keys, only one was created by a middle schooler — “Shades of Pink,” a poem by Tess Wiesmore, a student at The Grammar School in Putney.
A full list of all Vermont award winners (Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention) appears on the BMAC website at brattleboromuseum.org. National awards will be announced in June.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.