Scholastic Art & Writing Awards South Central Kentucky Regional Affiliate
Students Announced as 2018 National Medalists
Three Young Artists and Writers Recognized for their Original Works
Bowling Green, KY— March 30, 2018— SKyPAC has announced three National Medal recipients for the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Presented by the nonprofit organization the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the 95th Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the country’s longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative students in grades 7–12. This program year, nearly 350,000 works of art and writing were submitted to more than 100 affiliate partners across the country. SKyPAC is the south central Kentucky affiliate and is proud to announce our two NATIONAL Silver Medalists and one NATIONAL Gold Medalist:
Silver Medalists
Kayla Chinn-Art Portfolio, Ohio County High School-educator Farrah Belhasen
Manzar Rzayeva, Photography-Greenwood High School, educators Kim Soule & Crystal Cale “I love everything about photography! Capturing the moments and saving them,” said Manzar. About her actual photograph,” I just took out my camera and thought… Let me capture this!” About winning a national medal, “ I didn’t believe it!”
Gold Medalist and American Visions
Halle Rudloff, Greenwood High School, educators Kim Soule & Crystal Cale
What is your film about: “ I started with the title. I wrote the poem and spoken word. The film is a visual for the spoken word piece. I hope we recognize and appreciate change in how beautiful it is.” About winning a national medal and the highest honor scholastic awards to any young artist: “I just didn’t think this could happen. I really didn’t think anyone from our region would be going to New York. I’m excited!”
In celebration of this year’s national medal recipients, a reception and awards ceremony will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, on June 7 th , 2018. 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 Writing
anthology. National Medalist poets are considered for the National Student Poets Program, the nation’s highest honor for young poets presenting original work. Warren County Public Schools will be covering the travel costs for Greenwood High School’s Halle Rudloff, a Gold Medal and American Visions recipient in Film and Animation. Halle Rudloff will represent the south central Kentucky region at the ceremony.
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.
A complete list of 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National Award recipients is available online at
https://www.artandwriting.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018- National-Medals.pdf
“We have an amazing network of Affiliate Partners who bring the program to life by recognizing and encouraging creative teens across America,” said Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. “Over the course of the program’s nearly century-long history, we’ve learned that this
recognition can be life changing. For many creative teens, their regional cholastic Award leads to recognition at the national level, where opportunities for exhibition, publication, and millions of dollars in scholarships await those who receive top honors.”
The Alliance is grateful for its generous sponsors, who provide funds to support and produce the Scholastic Awards at the national level: Scholastic Inc., The Maurice R. Robinson Fund, Command Web Offset Co., The New York Times, the New York Life Foundation, The Herb Block Foundation, Blick Art Materials & Utrect Art Supplies, Golden Artist Colors, Garcia Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the ESA Foundation, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Circle, the New York
City Department of Cultural Affairs, and Amazon Literary Partnership; numerous other individual, foundation, and corporate funders; and, for the National Student Poets Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Poetry Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets.
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.
