Southwest VA Teen Artists Win National Acclaim

The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley is proud to announce that five students from the Southwest Virginia Region were honored this past week with awards at the national level for the Scholastic Art Awards.

The Scholastic Art Awards, sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, is the longest-running, most-prestigious award for teen artists in the country. The awards began in 1923 and the Fine Arts Center of the New River Valley has been the official affiliate of the Scholastic Art Awards for Southwest Virginia for nearly twenty years.

Entries are open to all teen artists in grades 7-12 who are at least 14 years old. Approximately 500 entries were received from the Southwest Virginia region in 16 categories, and a culmination of thousands of entries from across every state in the nation are forwarded to the national competition.

This year five students from Southwest Virginia were recognized with awards at the national level. Those students are:

• Aliyah (Yammy) Williams, Burton Center For Arts & Tech, Salem, Gold Medal & American Visions Medal for Missing What Once Was (Painting)
• Mary Clarke, Patrick Henry High School, Roanoke, Gold Medal for Essence de Mary (Painting)
• Rachael Turnbull, Patrick Henry High School, Roanoke, Gold Medal for Six (Ceramics & Glass)
• Lily Ebrahimi, Community High School of Arts and Academics, Roanoke, Silver Medal for The Last of The Cherry Tomatoes (Painting)
• Sky Standley, Blacksburg High School, Blacksburg, Silver Medal for Sleepys (Expanded Projects)

The winning teen artists will be showcased at an awards ceremony and reception in their honor and an exhibit of the award-winning art in New York City. Some of the art will also  be showcased in national traveling exhibits.

To view art from all of the winners from the Southwest Virginia region, visit FACNRV.org/scholastic.

More information about the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards can be found by visiting the Scholastic News Room at www.artandwriting.org