Oakton Students Win Regional Art Awards

More than 400 middle and high school students from Fairfax County Public Schools students won regional awards in the Scholastic Art Awards competition. 

On Tuesday evening, Gold and Silver Key winners from were recognized along with their peers 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 School Board member Stuart D. Gibson (Hunter Mill District), one of the speakers for the night.

The competition is a national program that seeks to recognize the achievements of art students in grades 7 through 12. The students’ teachers selected the submitted works in the fall and all were processed by the program from January through March before they were reviewed by a panel of judges composed 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 Aaron Stratten, Fine Arts Resource Teacher with FCPS.

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.

In addition to being recognized for the Scholastic Art Awards, students also received leadership team awards and scholarship awards. Several Gold Key Portfolio students 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.

All Gold Key winners are entered into the national Scholastic Art Awards competition. 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 were on display in the Ernst Community Cultural Center until Feb. 24.

Gold Keys

• Ashley Cho, painting, "Antlers"
• Ashley Cho, digital art, "Fruit Montage"
• Marina Fondin, comic art, "Founding Boys"
• Renee Sim, printmaking, "Triptych"
• Rachel Williams, art portfolio, "Art Portfolio"
• Rachel Williams, drawing, "Unaware"
• Jihyung Yoon, digital art, "Self Portrait"

Silver Key

• Julia Santoli, mixed media, "Jocelyn"
• Kelsey Weathers, photography, "Trance"

Certificate of Merit

• Beheen Dabestani, photography "Free Iran"
• Marina Fondin, digital art, "Patterned Portrait"
• Gregory Pavek, mixed media, "Everything Is"
• Julia Santoli, painting, "Colors"