49 Northern New Jersey Student Artists Win National Recognition in Competition Held at the Montclair Art Museum

The nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers has announced the national winners of the 2016 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the country’s longest-running and most prestigious award and recognition program for creative teens in grade 7–12. The Northern New Jersey region had 49 students awarded national medals from a panel of distinguished judges. The students all submitted their work to the competition through the Montclair Art Museum.

The Montclair Art Museum is the sole affiliate sponsor of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in New Jersey, the ninth year MAM has served in this capacity. The Museum administers the regional awards annually in February and recipients of the highest level of regional award, Gold Key, move on to the national competition. Within the Awards’ 29 categories, which include poetry, photography, sculpture, humor, editorial cartoons, and video game design, a record-breaking 330,000 works of art and writing were submitted for adjudication at the regional level this year. Works are judged on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of personal vision or voice.

Awards in the Portfolio category are given to a selection of up to eight works by seniors that are judged as a unit; other awards are issued by individual artwork and students can earn more than one award.

The 49 northern NJ students received 55 national awards total. The recipients are listed below by Name, Town, Grade, and School:

Portfolio Silver Medal with Distinction (1)

Avital Shtapura, Fair Lawn, 12, Fair Lawn High School

Gold Medal (16)

Maya Bagish, New Providence, 11, New Providence High School

Matthew Cerha, Hamilton, 9, Home School

Kathleen Gao, Millburn, 12, Millburn Senior High School

Lauren Kim, Oradell, 7, Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Jessica Lin, Yardley, 8, Princeton Day School (Two Gold Medals)

Micah Maben, Maplewood, 12, Columbia High School

Baiyi Ning, Belle Mead, 12, Hun School of Princeton

Patricia Patalinjug, Nutley, 10, Nutley High School (Also Herb Block Award for Editorial Cartoon)

Jacob Schuster, Old Tappan, 12, Northern Valley Regional High School Old Tappan

Ashley Sun, Warren, 11, Newark Academy

Cassie Tammy Wang, Princeton Junction, 7, Home School

Raymond Tang, Warren, 12, Watchung Hills Regional High School (Also New York Life Scholarship)

Grace Yan, Belle Mead, 9, Montgomery High School

Licheng Yang, New Providence, 12, New Providence High School

Cynthia Zhang, Holmdel, 8, William R Satz Intermediate School

Silver Medal (34)

Sarah Abrahamsen, Hackensack, 12, Northern Highlands Regional High School

Luc-Paul Adams, Jersey City, 12, Henry Snyder High School

Turner Andrasz, Maplewood, 11, Columbia High School

Mageto Angwenyi, Jersey City, 11, Infinity Institute

Kayleen Minseo Bae, Northvale, 9, Northern Valley Regional High School Old Tappan

Edward Cai, Watchung, 11, Watchung Hills Regional High School

Suyeon Chang, Flanders, 11, Mt. Olive High School

Emily Choi, Ridgewood, 10, Ridgewood High School

Garrett Chow, Montclair, 10, Montclair High School

Isabel Drumwright, Plainsboro, 11, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North

Erica Einhorn, Millburn 12, Millburn Senior High School

Kate Evans, Ridgewood, 11, Dwight-Englewood School

Margeaux Gould, Weehawke, 11, Academy of the Holy Angels

Yuri Han, Tenafly, 11, Tenafly High School

Eric Jiang, Hillsborough, 12, Hillsborough High School

Dahyeon Kim, Little Ferry, 12, Ridgefield Park Senior High School

Misa Kim, Blairstown, 12, Home School

Nathan Kim, Allendale, 12, Northern Highlands Regional High School

Chris Klein, Skillman, 10, Princeton Day School

Na Young Lee, Norwood, 12, Academy of the Holy Angels

Sarah Lee, Demarest, 12, Home School

Seoyeon Lee, Norwood, 10, Northern Valley Regional High School Old Tappan

Brandon Li, Skillman, 10, Home School

Dan Li, Closter, 12, Northern valley Regional High School Demarest

Nick Metz, Hillsdale, 12, Pascack Valley High School

Shana Mimnaugh, Princeton, 12, Princeton Day School

Katherine Mu, East Brunswick, 8, Home School

Christine Na, Cresskill, 12, Cresskill High School

Abby Ow, Short Hills, 12, Millburn Senior High School

Alison Palmeri, Franklin Lakes, 12, Oak Knoll School – Holy Child

Ashley Sun, Warren, 11, Newark Academy

Harper Usiskin, Hopewell, 9, Pennington School

Judy Xie, Boonton, 9, Mountain Lakes High School

Sung Won Yoon, Tenafly, 12, Tenafly High School (also the American Visions Medal)

2017 Special Scholarships and Awards, NJ Winners (4):

• The New York Life Foundation Award provides six $1,000 scholarships to students whose work exemplifies how the arts can act as a positive outlet to cope with loss and death, and whose work raises public awareness of the issue of youth bereavement. This year's recipients included Raymond Tang, Warren, New Jersey.
• The second-annual Editorial Cartoon category, sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation, celebrates the legacy of four-time Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist Herb Block and his remarkable contribution to American history and free expression. The three teen artists who received The Herb Block Award for Editorial Cartoon, a $1,000 scholarship for their outstanding drawings, illustrations, or animations offering commentary on current events or political topics, included Patricia Patalinjug, Nutley, New Jersey.
• The Gedenk Award for Tolerance provides six $1,000 scholarships to work that addresses the Gedenk Movement’s mission, reflecting on lessons learned from the Holocaust and other genocides, and increasing tolerance in the world. This year’s recipients included Suzan Kim, Hackensack, New Jersey.
• Five works are nominated out of all regional Gold Key works across all categories as the “Best in Show” for each region; the national jurors chose the best of the five for the American Visions Medal. This year’s NJ American Visions Medal went to Sung Won Yoon, Tenafly, New Jersey.

The winners will be celebrated at two events in New York City in June:

• June 8: National Ceremony at Carnegie Hall: The Gold Portfolio, Gold Medal, and Silver Medal with Distinction students across the nation will be honored at Carnegie Hall with appearances by notable celebrities and creative leaders.
• June 2-12: Art.Write.Now.2017 National Exhibition: More than 1,000 of the top Scholastic Art & Writing Awards visual and literary works will be on display for the public at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons School of Design at The New School and Pratt Institute’s Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York City.

“Our wonder and amazement at the creative output of our country’s youth —and the dedication of our extraordinary educators—never ceases, and this year is no exception,” said Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the nonprofit organization that presents the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. “The young people being recognized today for the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are to be celebrated for their creative and critical thinking, their bravery in telling their own stories on their own terms, and their inventiveness in recording and recreating their worlds. Watch closely, because among this 2,500 are members of the next generation of great American artists and writers.”

“The body of work submitted this year demonstrated the outstanding artistic talent in New Jersey,” said Leah Fox, Director of the Vance Wall Art Education Center at MAM. “The Montclair Art Museum is thrilled to once again host the Scholastic Art Award competition as part of the range of programs for teens it offers to enrich their knowledge and practice of arts and culture.”