Scholastic Art Awards

How do I enter work in the Scholastic Art Awards?

Sign Up!

You can participate in the 2018 Scholastic Awards by creating an account and uploading your work. Be sure that you have your school zip code handy so that we can get you the guidelines and deadline for your local program. The deadline is December 18, 2017.

Create!

The Scholastic Awards look for work that demonstrates originality, technical skill, and emergence of a personal voice or vision. After you have created your work, uploaded it to your Scholastic Awards Account. Visit the online galleries to see examples of works from past national medalists. Be sure to visit our copyright and plagiarism FAQ to learn more about submitting original works.

Stamp It and Send It!

After uploading your work, print your submission forms, have a parent/guardian and an educator sign them, and then mail them to the affiliate partner in your local region. Mark Arts is the Affiliate partner for the 70 counties in the Eastern Kansas Region.

All work must be uploaded into the national system by midnight on December 18. One copy of the signed submission form for each piece and payment must be postmarked or hand delivered to Mark Arts at our current building at 9112 E. Central, on or before Monday, December 18, 2017. Our offices are open Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the gallery is also open Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The submission process is not complete until paperwork and payment are received. The barcode on the submission form must be scanned in by Mark Arts for the artwork to be juried.
Educators will be notified January 12 of accepted work. Many teachers requested more time to prepare the accepted entries, so this year we will have an extra week to fine tune the presentation of all works. You may deliver accepted Gold Key and Silver Key artwork to our new building at 1307 N. Rock Road between January 22 and 26 (2-D work must be ready to hang with appropriate hardware). All teachers must have an inventory sheet when accepted artwork is dropped off. (If it’s mailed – please include this in the first box of your shipment. If you wish to have artwork mailed back to you at the end of the exhibition, please make a note of that on your inventory sheet and include a separate check for return shipping.)
The exhibition will run February 2 – March 11. Because of the growing number of submissions and our inaugural Mark Arts Kansas Invitational Exhibitions, only Silver Key and Gold Key works will be on exhibition this year. We will invite all Honorable Mention and Silver Key recipients to pick up their certificates and attend an opening reception on February 2. All Gold Key, scholarship and cash award winners will be honored at the closing ceremony and college scholarship fair on March 11.

What else do I need to know?

Eligibility

Public, private, or home-school students in the U.S., Canada, or American schools abroad enrolled in grades 7–12 are eligible to participate in the Scholastic Awards.

Category Descriptions

For a full list of category descriptions, click HERE.

Blind Judging

The Scholastic Awards are adjudicated without knowledge of the artists/writers identity. Please make sure that your submission does not contain any personal information.

Freedom of Expression

Young artists and writers are free to explore any and all topics. There are no pre-defined prompts and no work is ever disqualified from the Scholastic Awards because of the nature of its content.

Judging Criteria

Originality

Work that breaks from convention, blurs the boundaries between genres, and challenges notions of how a particular concept or emotion can be expressed.

Technical Skill

Work that uses technique to advance an original perspective or a personal vision or voice, and show skills being utilized to create something unique, powerful, and innovative.

Emergence of a Personal Vision or Voice

Work with an authentic and unique point of view and style.

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