YORK COUNTY - The climbing cost for higher education is a big story everywhere in the news right now and it especially hits home in our own state.
High school students have just started school again, but it's never too early to start planning for college and worrying about the task of how to pay for it. Scholarships are available, especially for athletes and students with straight As, but what about kids who have more artistic talents? Those students are invited to draw on their talents and submit their work to The 2009 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing outstanding visual art and writing created by teenagers to a national audience, has launched a nationwide call for submissions to the awards, which offer early recognition for creative teenagers and art and writing scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors.
Seniors who win a national A&W Award are eligible for scholarships ranging from $500 to full tuition at more than 50 colleges, universities and art institutes across the country. Each year, $3.25 million in art and writing scholarships are made available to select national award recipients, including 12 high school seniors who are honored with the National Portfolio Gold Award, and a $10,000 cash award.
The annual Scholastic Art Awards competition is now underway and students from all areas of Maine, grades 7-12, are asked to register online to submit works of art in a wide array of categories, including: sculpture, fashion design, painting, jewelry, drawing, animation, ceramic and glass, analog and digital photography, computer art, printmaking, video and film. The entries are submitted to Heartwood College of Art in Kennebunk, the regional affiliate for the entire state. A panel of local jurors comprised of artists, educators and arts professionals evaluates the pieces.
If a student receives a top Award from the Maine Art Awards, then he or she moves on to the national level. Each year, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers in New York City receives thousands of works of art and writing, submitted by regional affiliate programs nationwide.
This is Heartwood College of Art's first year as the Maine Art Affiliate for the Scholastic Art Awards. HCA is honored to host this annual event at the state level because it gives Maine students a venue for exhibiting their art locally and nationally and it provides an opportunity for students to receive scholarship money. Heartwood College of Art also offers scholarships to one senior from every high school in Maine who is the first from their school to be accepted and attend HCA.
Since Scholastic founded the program in 1923, more than 13 million of America's most talented teens have participated in the Scholastic Awards. Distinguished artists and writers who received an Art & Writing Award when they were in high school include Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Richard Avedon, Philip Pearlstein, Zac Posen, Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Otterness, Robert Indiana, Sylvia Plath, John Lithgow and Joyce Maynard.
To learn more about submission guidelines and deadlines in your region and how to submit work, please visit www.registration.artandwriting.org or go to www.heartwoodcollegeofart.org and click on the Scholastic Art Awards 2009 link.
