Montclair Students Win Art Awards

Montclair students were among the few from across New Jersey to receive recognition for their artwork in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards this month. 

The 90-year-old national program administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers was held at the Montclair Art Museum in February and focused on visual art.

The competition involved a total of 1,163 students in grades seven through 12 representing 175 municipalities in more than a dozen counties and nearly 4,000 works of art. 

The Gold Key Award was given to 219 individuals, 162 received the Silver Award, and 213 received an honorable mention.

Eight Montclair students brought home a total of 18 awards. The names of the local winners, their age and the awards were:

• Cleo Bess, 18: Honorable mention for photography
• Anna Bonesteel, 17: Gold Key for photography
• Emma Chin, 17: Gold Key for drawing
• Linna Griffin, 17: Silver Key for mixed media
• Drew Hammer, 15: Two Gold keys for fashion, two Silver keys for drawing and fashion
• Elizabeth Hays, 16: Honorable mention for drawing, Silver Key for mixed media
• Jacqueline Qiu, 13: Gold Key, two Silver keys and an honorable mention for drawing
• Ariana Wescott, 17: Two honorable mentions and Silver Key for comic art

Each Gold Key recipient will display one work in an exhibition at the Montclair Art Museum through March 10.

To see a photo gallery of the event at the Montclair Art Museum, click here. 

All of the Gold Key awarded works, alongside thousands of entries from other regional affiliate programs across the country, will also be presented to national panels of creative leaders in New York City. 

Fifteen graduating high school seniors will be awarded with Portfolio Gold Medals, which include a $10,000 scholarship for each winner. Additional scholarships are made available to Portfolio Silver Medalists and through sponsored awards and stipends to summer arts programs. The Alliance will offer more than $270,000 in direct scholarships and awards this year. 

For the past two years, a Montclair Art Museum regional Gold Medalist went on to receive the national Portfolio Gold Award, the highest level of achievement. In 2011, Leonardo Laurenceau earned this honor and then Batrek Yassa in 2012 — both attended Jersey City Arts High School.

The 2013 national award winners will be announced in early spring. For more information about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, go to www.artandwriting.org.