Seattle, WA — Cornish College of the Arts announced the regional award recipients of the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards today. Presented by the nonprofit organization the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the 96th 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, Cornish received 894 pieces of work from 375 young artists and 483 selections of writing from 324 young writers.

Regional honors, including Gold Keys, Silver Keys, Honorable Mentions, or American Visions & Voices nominations, were awarded to 225 visual works and 150 written entries. In celebration of this year’s regional recipients, an award ceremony will take place at Cornish College of the Arts on March 16, 2019, at the college’s Main Campus Center, 1000 Lenora Street, in Seattle. The presentation and award ceremony will begin at 3:00 pm. A display of winning artworks will be visible in the President’s Gallery on the 7th floor of the center.

“We’re delighted to host this program annually,” said Director of Admission Sharron Starling. “The students and their work in writing and visual arts show that arts education in Washington State continues to flourish.”

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. More recently, Stephen King, Richard Linklater, Zac Posen, and Lena Dunham received Scholastic Art & Writing Awards when they were teens.

For Gold Key works of art and writing in the Awards’ 29 categories, including architecture, painting, flash fiction, poetry, printmaking, video game design, and more, the opportunities for recognition will continue when the works are adjudicated again on a national level by a panel of leading creative professionals. National Gold Medalists will be announced later in the spring and will be honored during a special awards ceremony in New York City in June. 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 Writinganthology. 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 2019 regional Gold Key Scholastic Art & Writing Awards recipients is available online at artandwriting.org.

ABOUT SCHOLASTIC ARTS & WRITING AWARDS

Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious educational initiative supporting student achievement in the visual and literary arts. The program has an impressive legacy of being the first to acknowledge creative talent and is today’s largest source of scholarships for creative teens.For more information about the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, visit the Scholastic News Room: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/artandwriting.

ABOUT CORNISH COLLEGE OF THE ARTS

Begun in 1914, Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA, offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in the performing and visual arts and a Bachelor of Music degree, multiple public programs, and extension courses. The college’s distinguished alumni include designer Colleen Atwood, choreographer Merce Cunningham, actor Brendan Fraser, singer/activist Mary Lambert, Academy Award-winning actress Beatrice Straight, painter Anthony White, and artist Kumi Yamashita, among others.

The College’s founder Nellie Cornish, and the many teaching artists who have followed her, believed in education through exposure to all the arts. This approach continues to inform the College’s curriculum and community involvement today.