(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Montclair Art Museum (MAM) has announced the regional award recipients of the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Presented by the nonprofit organization the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the 95th Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the country's longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative students in grades 7–12. This program year, nearly 350,000 works of art and writing were submitted to more than 100 Affiliate Partners across the country, of which MAM is the sole NJ affiliate.
At the Montclair Art Museum, panels of artists, curators, and educators reviewed all the art submissions from the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren. Works are identified within 17 categories, including painting, sculpture, photography, editorial cartoon, and video game design, and students can submit more than one work. 651 creative teens received regional honors, including 266 Gold Keys, 342 Silver Keys, and 705 Honorable Mentions, from MAM. A full list of winners is available at montclairartmuseum.org/teen. In celebration of this year’s regional recipients, an award ceremony and reception was held on Thursday, February 15, 2018 at the Montclair Art Museum. Each MAM Gold Key Award winner will also display one work in an exhibition through March 26, 2018. For Gold Key works of art, the opportunities for recognition will continue when those works are adjudicated again on a national level.
“This is the tenth year the Montclair Art Museum has served as a local affiliate,” said Leah Fox, Director of the Vance Wall Art Education Center at MAM. “It is thrilling every February to see the exceptional work of these young artists and to know that they are on the path for exciting creative careers. In fact, Kay Walkingstick, currently featured at MAM in a major special exhibition, was a recipient of a Scholastic Art Award as a child.” WalkingStick is now one of the most celebrated artists of Native American ancestry and her major traveling retrospective Kay WalkingStick: An American Artist is on view at Montclair Art Museum through June 17, 2018.
“We have an amazing network of Affiliate Partners who bring the program to life by recognizing and encouraging creative teens across America,” said Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. “Over the course of the program’s nearly century-long history, we’ve learned that this recognition can be life changing. For many creative teens, their regional Scholastic Award leads to recognition at the national level, where opportunities for exhibition, publication, and millions of dollars in scholarships await those who receive top honors.” Since the program’s founding in 1923, the Awards have fostered the creativity and talent of millions of students, including renowned alumni who have gone on to become leaders in their fields, including Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Philip Pearlstein, and Sylvia Plath.
National Gold Medalists will be announced in March 2018 and will be honored during a special awards ceremony at the world-famous Carnegie Hall in New York City in June 2018. All National Medalists are eligible for a wealth of additional opportunities such as inclusion in the Art.Write.Now.Tour traveling exhibition and The Best Teen Writing anthology. National Medalist poets are considered for the National Student Poets Program, the nation’s highest honor for young poets presenting original work. A complete list of 2018 regional Gold Key Scholastic Art & Writing Awards recipients is available online at artandwriting.org.
About the Montclair Art Museum (MAM)
The Montclair Art Museum (MAM), located at 3 South Mountain Avenue in Montclair, NJ, boasts a renowned collection of American and Native American art that uniquely highlights art making in the United States over the last 300 years. The Vance Wall Art Education Center encompasses all the Museum’s educational efforts, including award-winning Yard School of Art studio classes, lectures and talks, family events, tours, and the mobile MAM Art Truck. MAM exhibitions and programs serve a wide public of all ages, from families and seniors to artists, educators, and scholars.
