Please have the following information ready before registering:

Date of birth
Student email
Home mailing address
Student cell phone number
School name and address
Teacher name
Teacher email
Parent/Guardian name(s)
Parent/Guardian email
Parent/Guardian cell phone number
Parent/Guardian occupation
Home phone number

How to Submit Your Work

Regional Programs

Students first submit work to regional programs administered by affiliates of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Students and teachers can connect with their regional programs HERE. Deadlines for submitting work vary by region and generally range from December 15, 2011 through January 15, 2012.

At the regional level, students can receive Honorable Mention, Silver Key, Gold Key and American Voices & Visions Nominations recognition. Students who receive Gold Keys are automatically included in judging for national-level recognition.

CREATE YOUR PROFILE

To register, students must first create a profile at artandwriting.org/Registration. Click here to see what information you need to register.

UPLOAD ALL YOUR WORKS

Once students have completed their profile (i.e. provided their contact information), they should follow instructions to upload their work online. Every category has specific requirements so please read the Category Descriptions carefully. Some regional programs require that live work (i.e. the actual piece of work) be submitted in addition to uploading work online. Students should read their region guidelines carefully before completing registration. Click here to find your region guidelines.

COMPLETE REQUIRED SUBMISSION FORMS

After all work is uploaded, students print submission forms, acquire required signatures (student, parent and teacher/administrator), prepare payment (if applicable) and mail forms to the student’s regional affiliate. Specific requirements vary by region so students should read the region guidelines carefully before completing their application. Region guidelines can be found here.

Regional Notifications

Students and teachers who are recognized with regional awards will be notified by their local affiliate by February 1, 2012.

National Program

Students who receive Gold Keys on the regional level are automatically included in judging for national-level recognition. In 2011, approximately 1,500 works were awarded with National Gold & Silver Medals. National Medalists are invited to New York City to receive recognition on the country's most celebrated stage–Carnegie Hall–as part of the annual National Awards Ceremony. The ceremony also includes special guest speakers and performers, as well as achievement awards presented to prominent past winners of The Scholastic Awards.

Students and teachers who earn National Medals will be notified on March 15, 2012.

General Guidelines

Eligibility

Students must be enrolled in:

Grades 7 – 12.
A public, private, parochial, home-school or out of school program.
The U.S., Canada, or in an American school abroad.

Category Descriptions

For a full list of category descriptions, including size requirements and other instructions for how to prepare and submit your work, please click HERE.

Judging Criteria

There are three things that haven't changed about The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and its judging process since 1923:

   • Blind Judging: Our jurors do not know the identities of students who submit work to The Awards.
   • Freedom of Expression: No work will be disqualified on the basis of its content.
   • The Criteria: Originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal vision or voice.

What is Originality?

Originality is hard to define. We encourage our jurors to look for works of art and writing that, first and foremost, surprise them. Many of the works submitted to The Awards begin as classroom assignments. A functional definition of originality is work that goes beyond the classroom assignment and takes on its own reason for existing in the world. A pristinely rendered portrait will likely not win an award unless it innovates upon how a portrait can be drawn. Works of high originality challenge conventions, blur the boundaries between genres, and shift jurors’ notions of how a particular concept or emotion can be expressed. Our jurors are looking for works of paradigm-shifting innovation and originality.

What is Technical Skill?

Each year, we bring thousands of professional artists, writers, educators, and scholars together, with functional expertise in specific genres, to evaluate the skills demonstrated by students who submit works to The Awards. Technical skill is judged on how it is used to advance an original perspective or a personal vision or voice. Rather than being evaluated for specific skill proficiencies, students will be evaluated on how they used their skills to create something unique, powerful, and innovative.

What is Personal Vision or Voice?

We all know what the personal visions and voices of Awards alumni Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, and Sylvia Plath looked and sounded like when they became professional artists and writers. But what did their works look and sound like when they were teenagers? This is precisely the question we ask our jurors to consider during the judging process. It’s no coincidence that The Awards have identified some of the most important creative minds of the past nine decades. We are in the business of identifying the self-possessed, idiosyncratic voices and visions of teenage artists and writers.