2 Lakewood High School Students Get National Awards For Art

LAKEWOOD, OH - Maya Sutliff wasn't expecting national awards for her art. She said she was happy just to make it to the regional competition level. Now, the Lakewood High School senior is a national Gold Medal Winner in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.

In addition to Sutliff's Gold Medal, fellow LHS senior Garret Bodnar took home a Silver Medal. It was a strong showing for the high school in the nation's longest-running and most prestigious arts recognition program for teenagers in grades 7 through 12. And the competition was stiff in 2017. This year saw a record-breaking 330,000 works of art and writing submitted at the regional level, in categories ranging from poetry, photography, sculpture, and editorial cartoons, to video game design and humor.

Sutliff's Gold Medal came in the Drawing & Illustration category. Bodnar's Silver Medal came in the Printmaking category. Both students will be honored, along with other national winners and their teachers, during a June 8 cermony at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Ultimately, there were 2,500 national winners; or 3 percent of the 85,000 artists that advanced from regional competitions throughout the nation. Regional judging took place in January. Sutliff was delighted and shocked to advance out of the regionals.

"It was a nice surprise to get in the morning!" she said in a press release from the schools. "I think the best part was honestly seeing how happy and excited Ms. Sedlak was," she said, referring to her teacher, Amy Sedlak.

In addition to Bodnar and Sutliff, eight Lakewood High School students were named Golden Key winners at the regional level and also had their work judged at the national level.

Those regional winners are:

• Kaylee Banhidy (Photography);
• Micha Inak (Design);
• Faiza Manaa (Drawing & Illustration);
• Sara McMillen (Digital Art);
• Elyza Mihalski (Drawing & Illustration);
• Balint Muller (Photography - two awards);
• Ava Olic (Drawing & Illustration);
• and Maya O’Reilly (Ceramics & Glass).

You can view Sutliff's winning artwork below.

You can view Bodnar's winning artwork below:

Photos of artwork and students from Lakewood Schools