Fort Hunt Students Win Scholastic Art Competition

Over 400 middle and high school students--including some from the Fort Hunt area--won regional awards in the 2011 Scholastic Art Awards competition. 

On Tuesday evening, Gold and Silver Key winners were recognized at an awards ceremony at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College in the Ernst Community Cultural Center.

"What we’re here about tonight is not something that can be measured on a standardized test. It’s not something you can bubble in. It’s something that is our essence and the essence of our young   people, something to celebrate with pride and joy because we know that this is something that our community values and we want to nurture it and continue to grow," said Hunter Mill District school board member Stuart D. Gibson, one of the speakers for the night.

The competition is a national program that seeks to recognize the achievements of art students in grades 7th through 12th. The students’ teachers selected the submitted works last Fall and all were processed by the program from January through March before they were reviewed by a panel of judges comprised of professional artists and art educators in the Washington, D.C. metro area such as photographers and illustrators, art gallery owners, artist and George Mason University School of Art professor of New Media Mark Cooley and more.

This year, judges viewed and scored selections based on photographs of the actual artwork rather than viewing it in person.

“[Judges] look for creativity, a unique vision for the student as well as a higher skill level than people would expect, so it’s a really interesting experience to see all that really great work come into one place and you get to look at it as an art teacher and see the signs of all these different schools,” said FCPS Fine Arts Resource Teacher Aaron Stratten.

The panel reviewed more than 165,000 works and 1,677 of those entries came from FCPS students. A total of 171 students won Gold Keys, 141 students won Silver Keys and 136 were awarded Certificates of Merit for their work in one or more of the following categories: drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics and glass pieces, sculptures, digital art, film and animation, architecture, fashion, jewelry, comic art, design, mixed media, and portfolios.

Some of the biggest prizes of the night went to the Gold Key Portfolio students who won scholarship awards from the Arts Council of Fairfax County, Council for the Arts of Herndon/SAIC Technology and the Arts Program, Fairfax Art League, Lorton Arts Foundation, Springfield Art Guild and Vienna Arts Society.

Fairfax Art League selected Westfield High School’s Marika Emmanuel as the their $500 scholarship award winner, the Vienna Arts Society $500 scholarship award went to West Potomac High School’s Bonnie Morgan and the Springfield Art Guild chose McLean High School’s Kylie Hekking as their $750 scholarship award winner.

All Gold Key winners are entered into the national Scholastic Art Awards competition. A dozen students from West Potomac won Gold Keys. Those winners are announced in April. A full list of regional winners, their schools, and titles of their work can be found here. The students’ work will be on display in the Ernst Community Cultural Center until Thursday, Feb. 24.

Whitman Middle School
Erika Sanchez Design (Certificate of Merit)

West Potomac High School
Tayler Aitken - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio(Certificate of Merit)
Tayler Aitken - Digital Art The Lost Vessel (Silver Key)
Emilia Blaszkiewicz - Photography Feel the Waves (Gold Key)
Brady Corum - Photography Holding On (Certificate of Merit)
Kelsey Donovan - Photo Portfolio Photo Portfolio (Certificate of Merit)
Ben Finfrock - Drawing Cowboy (Gold Key)
Olivia Frizzell - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Silver Key)
Olivia Frizzell - Painting Hide N' Seek (Certificate of Merit)
Carolyn Johnson - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Gold Key)
Margaret Kerr - Photo Portfolio Photo Portfolio (Silver Key)
Bonnie Morgan - Drawing A Splash of Whimsy (Certificate of Merit)
Bonnie Morgan - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Gold Key)
Bonnie Morgan - Drawing From Death Sprouts Beaut (Gold Key)
Hailey Schmick - Photography Strive (Certificate of Merit)
Elizabeth Stanley - Film & Animation Dancing in DC (Certificate of Merit)
Caitlin Stewart - Photo Portfolio Photo Portfolio (Silver Key)
Jenna Van Dyck - Photography Tranquility (Certificate of Merit)
Jennifer Wilder - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Gold Key)
Celeste Zabowski - Digital Art What doesn't kill you... (Certificate of Merit)