Arts

THE SCHOLASTIC AWARDS!

Sophia Norman, Entertainment Editor

October 22, 2026

As the seasons turn to fall, the orange leaves and pumpkin spice aren’t the only things to look forward to this time of year; the autumn season also brings the National Scholastic Art and Writing completion! Thousands of students participate in the event every year, putting their best effort into their work for a chance to win cash prizes and scholarships. Scholastic Art and Writing is an excellent way for students to get introduced on a national level.

With nineteen different art categories and ten writing categories, Scholastic is widely diverse. Students from grades seven and up all over the US are allowed to participate, showing their work to anyone who wants to see. Award winning works can be viewed from the Scholastic art and writing website as well as a description of the different categories if you want to participate.

How to Sign Up

If this tickles your fancy, signing up for the scholastic is quite simple; just google “Scholastic Art and Writing Awards” and the first link will take you to the home page.

In the top right corner, there is a button that says, Login, click on it (If you already have an account, it will take you to your dashboard) then hit create an account. A window will pop up asking if you are a teen or educator, click whichever one you are.
It will take you to the sign-up page, enter your age and grade this year. (You’ll have to re-register each year) then click “create your account”
It will take you to another page, fill in the boxes with the (*) in them, for the email, you can use either your school email or your personal email, however for the parent email, YOU HAVE TO PUT THE PARENT’S EMAIL, they approve your account.
Enter Your school, make sure you put the right one. (I’ve learned from experience that this mistake is very hard to correct and you will have to wait till the following year to fix it.)
Feel free to read over the Copyright and Plagiarism Policy as well as Participation terms before checking off the boxes, then hit “create my account”.

The deadline for the Art Competition in our region is December 1st and the deadline for the Writing Competition is January 4th.

Tips and Tricks!

If you’re aiming to win an award, I wouldn’t suggest participating in the popular categories (like painting or drawing); these categories have many exceptional artists participating. Try doing a less popular one (like comics, animation, jewelry, fashion, etc…), You’ll have a higher chance of winning an award.

Why Scholastic?

The Scholastic introduces young artists to the public eye and allows opportunities for funding and scholarships, but that’s not exactly why it was made. Funded by Maurice R. Robinson in 1923, the Scholastic Awards do open many opportunities to blooming artists but according to Mr. Robinson, “It is not the prime objective of the Scholastic Awards to provide a training ground for the artists of the future, although it is obvious that many will come from these ranks. It is a service of more value, in our estimation, to open avenues of expression to young people.” To me, this is a great concept because teens are often overlooked because of their age so letting teens express how they feel allows them to open and release stress, to tell the world how they feel. Going on for over a hundred years, the Scholastic brings in teen’s views from all over the U.S. on events that affected everyone like WW2, The Great Depression, The Vietnam War, and 9/11. The Scholastic Awards has also hosted several well-known artists, authors, and movie writers. Some you might have heard of are Stephan King, Tschabalala Self, Myla Goldberg, and Marc Brown.

The Scholastic awards have NEVER missed a single ceremony since 1923, celebrated annually, tens of thousands of students participate each year, and according to the Scholastic Newsroom (The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Announce 2026 Class of National Teen Medalists), over 110,000 teens from U.S. territories, the States, and Canada participated, submitting 335,000 works out of which 92,000 won regional awards, and 2,500 received national medals, and teens can receive money for these awards, from $500 to $12,500 in scholarship money.

Scholastic Awards Here

I mentioned the Scholastic Art and Writing to the Art and English teachers, some had not known about it and had not had a lot of students submit. It’s not part of the shows you can submit work to in art class, so I guess it isn’t mentioned much. I talked to Ms. Wright about the Awards; she seemed unfamiliar with them “I think because there is a fee we haven’t done it in the past. It is a huge nationwide competition as well. There are only a few of those we’ve done in the past as well.” The fee mentioned is $15 for each submission, and Portfolios (for graduating seniors only) is $40. However, if you don’t mind paying, feel free to talk to a teacher or Counselor about submitting (I also talked to Ms. Soto-Cooper. She has had students submit to the Awards before, so she can help)

I’ve known people who have participated in the Scholastic Awards; they are quite exceptional. Even if you don’t get into the competition, seeing the works of other students from all over the county is amazing, there is so much diversity, and it introduces you to new concepts, styles, and stories.

2026 Nationalist Medals