Students Earn Creative Recognition at 2024 Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

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The Harris County Department of Education has announced the regional award recipients of the 2024 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Presented by the nonprofit organization The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the country’s longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative students in Grades 7–12 (ages 13 and up) in 28 categories of art and writing.

Hundreds of thousands of teens submitted their best art and writing in more than 100 regions nationwide this year. A total of 15,886 works were submitted for consideration in Harris County, the second-largest regional affiliate in the country, for the program. More than 3,800 creative teens from Harris County received regional honors from these submissions, including Gold Key, Silver Key, Honorable Mention, and American Visions and American Voices nominations.

Jurors look for work that exemplifies the Awards’ core values: originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Entries are selected for awards without knowledge of the student’s gender, age, ethnicity, or hometown by some of the foremost visual and literary arts leaders.

Aldine ISD Regional Awardees

The regional Gold Key entries are automatically considered for national awards in New York City. Entries are selected for awards without knowledge of the student’s gender, age, ethnicity, or hometown by some of the foremost visual and literary arts leaders. Many Scholastic Awards alums have lent their expertise as jurors, including Michael Bierut, Philip Pearlstein, Edward Sorel, Langston Hughes, Judy Blume, Billy Collins, Edwidge Danticat, David Sedaris, Nikki Giovanni, Mickalene Thomas, Marc Brown, Willie Cole, James Warhola, Ocean Vuong, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Tina Mabry.

Jurors from each region can select up to five works to be American Visions or Voices Award Nominees. Participants must first earn a Gold Key in their region to be nominated for the American Visions or Voices Award. National judges then review these nominated works to receive American Visions or Voices Medals. 

Roy Pinson holds his award-winning photograph, “I’m Fine.” The Blanson CTEHS 11th-grader earned a Gold Key at the Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and is an American Visions Award nominee.

High School Art Awards

Aldine High School

Silver Key: Nereyda Valadez for Casting my Spell in Photography
Honorable Mention: Nevaeh Adame for Apparition in Photography
Honorable Mention: Ember Jenkins for Hera in Jewelry

Avalos P-TECH School

Silver Key: Jocelyn Bedolla for Untitled in Drawing & Illustration

Blanson Career and Technical Education High School

American Visions Nominee and Gold Key: Roy Pinson for I’m Fine in Photography
Silver Key: Yahaira Yáñes for Surveillant After Loss in Drawing & Illustration
Honorable Mention: Steven Barrios Najarro for Jicaras tristes in Art Portfolio
Honorable Mention: Izavelle Jiménez for View From Seoul in Photography
Honorable Mention: Karen Serrano for Morning Dread in Painting
Honorable Mention: Ximenna Torija-de la Cruz for Fractured Feelings in Photography

“My Face” by Ariel Luangkhot

Carver High School for Applied Technology, Engineering, and The Arts

Gold Key: Ivan Davidson for Blinded in Photography
Gold Key: Fernanda Legaspi for Sudden Memory in Printmaking
Gold Key: Ariel Luangkhot for My Face in Printmaking
Silver Key: Jordan Chaney-Barnes for Perfect Timing in Printmaking
Silver Key: Jareyohn Griffin for Ethereal Beauty in Photography
Silver Key: Ariel Luangkhot for N/A in Art Portfolio
Silver Key: Kimora Miller for An Illusion in Digital Art
Silver Key: Reagan Wilson for Lean On Me in Photography
Honorable Mention: Luis Gómez for The Given in Photography
Honorable Mention: Carli Richardson for Untitled in Photography
Honorable Mention: Reagan Wilson for Radiance in Photography

“Sudden Memory” by Fernanda Legaspi

Davis High School

Gold Key: Gerardo Ibarra for Slow Death in Comic Art
Honorable Mention: Norma Ochoa Orellana for Sustained in Mixed Media
Honorable Mention: Naomi Girón for Hypnosis in Mixed Media
Honorable Mention: Annie Ho for Pumpkin Head in Sculpture
Honorable Mention: Itzel Reza for Untitled in Mixed Media

Eisenhower High School

Honorable Mention: Melany Reyes for Trapped Inside in Ceramics & Glass

MacArthur High School

Gold Key: Román Paredes for Cultural Silencing in Painting
Gold Key: Román Paredes for It Could Have Been Prevented in Painting
Silver Key: Hailey Mullikin for New Hope in Photography
Honorable Mention: Diana Soriano for Peas in Photography

“Burnout” by Miranda Marrón

MacArthur Ninth Grade School

Gold Key: Miranda Marrón for Burnout in Mixed Media

Nimitz High School

Honorable Mention: Melanie Vega for Being Watched in Mixed Media

Young Women’s Leadership Academy

Silver Key: Sofyah Macías for El molcajete in Photography

Middle School Art Awards

“Blinded” by Ivan Davidson

Hoffman Middle School

Honorable Mention: Meylin Solorzano for Art is in Drawing & Illustration

Mead Middle School

Silver Key: Eurydice Gomora for Tree Glitch in Photography
Silver Key: Julián Martínez for Animation in Film & Animation

Stovall Middle School

Honorable Mention: Jazmine Alvizo for Confused at All Time in Mixed Media

Teague Middle School

Silver Key: Juanita García for Overcoming Middle School Nightmare in Comic Art
Honorable Mention: Ariana Guzmán for The True Native in Drawing & Illustration

High School Writing Awards

MacArthur High School

Honorable Mention: Andrea Díaz for Whispers of Resilience

Regional Award Celebrations/National Awards

An award signifies to parents, teachers, the community, and colleges that a student is an accomplished artist or writer and offers creative teens the opportunity to earn recognition, exhibition, publication, and up to $10,000 in scholarships. Works that receive Gold Key recognition at the regional level are automatically submitted for national adjudication.

For the complete list of 2024 awardees, updates, and more information about the regional awards, please visit https://www.hcde-texas.org/scholastic2024/regionals.

The Scholastic Regional Award Celebration will honor awardees at 7 p.m. on May 7 and May 8 at the University of Houston Cullen Performance Hall. Click HERE for more details.

National Medalists and their educators are honored with a star-studded ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Recent special guests include Oprah Winfrey, Tim Gunn, Alec Baldwin, Tituss Burgess, Amy Schumer, Kelly Clarkson, Zac Posen, Mayim Bialik, Tschabalala Self, Nick Cannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Derek Luke, Kinsale Drake, Tina Fey, and Rose Byrne.

Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have sparked the creative growth of many teens nationwide. Notable alums include Stephen King, Robert Redford, Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, Joyce Carol Oates, and Amanda Gorman. They all earned awards as Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as teens.