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Thirteen students from Cuyahoga County have received a prestigious national award for their outstanding artwork through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the 88-year-old national program that recognizes outstanding creative teenagers and offers scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors.

The nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, which administers the awards, will honor national winners at a special ceremony at the world-famous Carnegie Hall in New York City on May 31. Select award-winning art and writing will be exhibited at the World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery in Lower Manhattan from June 1 to 19. Mayor Bloomberg has declared May 31 the official Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Day and the top of the Empire State Building will be lit gold in honor of the students’ achievements.

This year’s award recipients from Cuyahoga County are:
Charles Borione, Gr. 8, Gold Medal, Best in Grade (one of two in the nation)
Connor Brindza, Gr. 12, Silver Medal
Jacob Corder, Gr. 8, Gold Medal
Emily Corno, Gr. 12, Silver Medal
Mallory Fahey, Gr. 8, Silver Medal
Samantha Keck, Gr. 12, Gold Medal
Kelsey Kish, Gr. 12, Gold Medal
Alexandra Lacure, Gr. 12, Silver Medal
Jenna Macy, Gr. 11, American Visions Medal (one of 107 in the nation)
Martel McCornell, Gr. 10, Silver Medal
Brigid O’Donnell, Gr. 12, Silver Medal
Joe Ryder, Gr. 12, Gold Medal
Annmarie Wang, Gr. 7, Silver Medal

The first level of recognition for these students’ outstanding work took place through the Cleveland Institute of Art with sponsorship from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. CIA is one of 107 affiliate organizations nationwide that, in partnership with the Alliance, conduct the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in their localities.

In Cuyahoga County 118 Gold Key awards, 122 Silver Key awards, and 261 Honorable Mentions were awarded to students on January 9, 2011 at a celebration held at the Cleveland Institute of Art. See a list of award winners on the CIA website. Over 1,600 pieces of artwork were submitted by nearly 1,200 Cuyahoga County students.

“Each year it is truly amazing to see the quality of original artwork being created by the students of Cuyahoga County,” said Richard Maxwell, coordinator of the CIA event. Maxwell also said that beginning with the 2012 competition, “The Cleveland Institute of Art is happy to announce that it will be adding writing—truly making it the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.”

These students join the ranks of some of our country’s most revered artists and writers who have received Scholastic Art & Writing Awards when they were high school, including Robert Redford, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, John Lithgow, Joyce Carol Oates, John Baldesarri, Philip Pearlstein, Zac Posen, Sylvia Plath, Richard Avedon, Robert Indiana, and Abdi Farah (winner of the Bravo reality show Work of Art: The Next Great Artist).

The annual awards competition begins locally as students in grades 7 to 12 submit works of art and writing to their local affiliates, which are evaluated by a panel of jurors comprised of artists, authors, educators, and other arts professionals. Works are judged on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal vision or voice and those receiving top honors are then submitted for national adjudication. Notable past and current national jurors include Robert Frost, Chuck Paluhniak, Gary Panter, Frank McCourt, Judy Blume, Billy Collins, Peggy Noonan, William Saroyan, KiKi Smith, and Lesley Stahl.

Since 1923, the awards have recognized more than 13 million students and made available over $25 million in scholarships. They continue to be the longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens and the largest source of scholarships for young artists and writers. The program is generously supported by Scholastic Inc., Maurice R. Robinson Foundation, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Command Web Offset, AMD Foundation, The New York Times, Dick Blick Co., Ovation, and New York Life Foundation.

For more information about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, visit artandwriting.org. For more information about the Cuyahoga County competition hosted by the Cleveland Institute of Art, contact Richard Maxwell at rmaxwell@cia.edu or 216.421.7460.