BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) is pleased to announce 157 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. 14, through Saturday, March 8, when the exhibit culminates in an awards ceremony at the museum at noon. The ceremony is free. Doors open at 10 a.m.
Visual artist, graffiti scholar, and educator Will Kasso Condry, winner of The Vermont Prize in 2022, 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 through 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.
BMAC has administered the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for Vermont since 2011. Statewide awards consist of Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention. This year's 31 Gold Key winners from Vermont are listed below.
Myrrh Pitkin, an 11th grader at Champlain Valley Union High School, has the distinction of being the only applicant to win Gold Keys in both art and writing. Pitkin won Gold Keys in novel writing, painting, and science fiction/fantasy writing.
While most awards were won by high schoolers, seven eighth-graders also earned special recognition, including Harper Goddard of Green Mountain Union High School, who won a Gold Key, three Silver Keys, and three Honorable Mentions in various writing categories.
A list of all Vermont award winners appears on the BMAC website at brattleboromuseum.org. National awards will be announced in June.
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.
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 college scholarship. Hassan is a graduate of the MFA at Washington University in St. Louis, where she was the senior poetry fellow.
This year's award-winning work was selected from among a total of 680 submissions - 664 individual works and 16 portfolios - by 232 students from throughout the state. Of the 16 applicants who submitted portfolios, Sasha Wales, a 12th grader at the Putney School, is the only one to have won a Gold Key. Wales' portfolio will now be considered for a national Gold Medal, the highest honor available through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, which includes a $12,500 college scholarship.
Local Gold Key winners included:
Caroline Collins (Winhall): Grade 12, Stratton Mountain School, Personal Essay & Memoir
Piper Cubell (Stratton): Grade 11, Stratton Mountain School, Personal Essay & Memoir
Liam Donaue (Putney): Grade 12, Putney School, Photography
Harper Goddard (Chester): Grade 8, Green Mountain High School, Short Story, American Voices Nominee
Lucia Goldstein (Maplewood, New Jersey): Grade 10, Putney School, Painting, American Visions Nominee
Lucy Hull (Newfane): Grade 11, Putney School, Photography
Selam Mengisteab (Brattleboro): Grade 11, Brattleboro Union High School, Photography
Dashiell Moyse (Brattleboro): Grade 11, Brattleboro Union High School, Photography
Root Rosenberg (Brattleboro): Grade 11, Putney School, Personal Essay & Memoir, American Voices Nominee
Chloe Rosner (Marlboro): Grade 11, Putney School, Painting, American Visions Nominee
Finn Stephenson-Ryan: Grade 11, Putney School Photography
Rose Stone (Guilford): Grade 12, Brattleboro Union High School, Ceramics & Glass
Sasha Wales (Putney): Grade 12, Putney School, Portfolio (Art)
Oliver Walsh-Fischetti: Grade 11, Vermont Academy, Ceramics & Glass
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