Scholastic Art Awards
Congratulations to our 2024 Mid Carolina Region Scholastic Art Award winners!
Gold Keys | Silver Keys | Honorable Mentions
View the 2024 Mid Carolina Scholastic Art Ceremony!
Each year 13 Gold Key students are selected to have their work shown on billboards across the Mid Carolina region. The installation is generously funded by Adams Outdoor, NAMTA, and UNC Charlotte. Work will be on display from April 8 – May 5. Click here to view the winning work! Click here for an interactive driving map to the billboards.
The 2024 Scholastic Gold and Silver Key Exhibition will be March 1 – April 14 at the Mint Museum Uptown. Admission to the exhibit is free; please check with the reception desk when you arrive and let them know you are visiting the Scholastic exhibit.
The College of Arts + Architecture is honored to be an Affiliate Partner for the Mid-Carolina Region of the Scholastic Art Awards, serving students and educators from central North Carolina and South Carolina. Counties in our region include Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Randolph, Richmond, Rockingham, Rowan, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Union, Wilkes, Yadkin, and York.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have an impressive legacy dating back to 1923. Over the years, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have grown to become the longest-running, most prestigious program for creative teens in the U.S. and the nation’s largest source of scholarships for young artists and writers. A noteworthy roster of past winners includes Andy Warhol, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and John Updike.
The process begins across the country as artists and writers in grades 7-12 submit work in 28 categories of art and writing to a network of regional affiliates who present award ceremonies and exhibits for selected works on a local level. Gold Keys, the highest awards, are then submitted from each region for national adjudication by luminaries in the visual and literary arts, some of whom are past award recipients. National Gold and Silver Medal-winning students and their teachers receive national recognition and are invited to attend the exhibit in New York and award ceremony at Carnegie Hall.
Students across America submitted nearly 340,000 original works last year. The top art and writing at the regional level were moved onto the national stage, where more than 2,700 students earned national medals. Through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, students receive opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication, and scholarships.
Selection Process
Submissions of artwork to the Mid-Carolina Region Scholastic Awards are evaluated in the categories of architecture & industrial design, ceramics & glass, comic art, design, digital art, drawing & illustration, editorial cartoon, expanded projects, fashion, film & animation, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and art portfolio. The entries are classified according to media, then sorted by grade level (middle school and high school).
Panels of regional jurors, made up of museum curators, college and university professors, professional artists, and veteran K-12 art teachers, evaluate the work in a blind judging process. Jurors are chosen for their expertise in each category and evaluate work based on originality, technical skill, and personal vision.
Digital images of Gold Key artworks are sent for adjudication at the national level by a second set of panelists, and national Gold Medal artworks are displayed in New York at the national exhibitions.
Congratulations to our past Scholastic Art winners!
2023 Gold Key Winners, 2023 Silver Key Winners, 2023 Honorable Mentions. View the 2023 Gold and Silver National Medals. View the awards ceremony.
2022 Gold Key Winners, 2022 Silver Key Winners, 2022 Honorable Mentions. View the awards ceremony.
2021 Gold Key Winners, 2021 Silver Key Winners, 2021 Honorable Mentions, 2021 Gold Key Billboard Mockups sponsored by Adams Outdoors.
2020 Gold Key Winners, 2020 Silver Key Winners, 2020 Honorable Mentions, 2020 Gold Key Art & Writing Slide Show.
Questions?
Contact Wendy Fishman, UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture’s Director of Collaborative Works.
Sponsors
UNC Charlotte would like to thank the following organizations for their generous support of the Mid-Carolina Region Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. We couldn’t do it without you! 