Northwest Academy Students Win Awards for Photography, Other Arts

Seventeen Northwest Academy students were recognized in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards this year, a national competition for young artists and writers. The program is meant to allow teens to express their talent, creativity and ingenuity. It also gives students opportunities for exhibition, publication and even college scholarships.

“I think it’s important that our students get the opportunity to put their work out there,” Lainie Ettinger, Director of Admissions and Marketing, said.

There were many different categories of art that participants could submit, such as painting, photography, sculpture and architectural design. Students could also enter various types of writing into the competition, such as science fiction, fantasy, poetry and journalism.

Together, the award-winning students won 13 Gold Keys, 18 Silver Keys and 16 Honorable Mentions for their work in black & white photography, digital photography, art and film.

Jared Kerman, a junior, submitted eight pieces of photography, winning three Gold Keys and two Silver Keys.

“Most notably, I submitted some pinhole photography where I turned a tin can into a camera and took pictures with it,” Kerman said. “One of those pictures took a little over a week to expose! I submitted some other regular prints too, some with variation in the way I printed the film and some just had really involved set-ups to take the picture and I loved how they turned out.”

Ilana Newman, a senior, was also recognized in the program, winning one Gold Key and two Silver Keys.

“I submitted my portfolio which consists of a lot of conceptual photography, plus a few prints that I’ve done recently,” Newman said.

Unlike Kerman, this was not Newman’s first time taking part in the competition.

“I did it last year as well, and I think it’s important to just do everything you can to get your work out there, especially if you’re proud of it,” she said. “If you don’t put yourself out there, you will never get anywhere.”
This was also the second year of competing for Madeline Ettinger, a junior.

“I did seven pieces of straight photography, which are just prints and then, three 3D objects,” she said. “Two of the 3D objects are books and one is several images that are laid over each other.”

Madeline won two Gold Keys, two Silver Keys and one Honorable Mention Award.

Gold Keys are awarded to the very best works submitted to local competitions and are automatically considered for national-level recognition. Silver Keys are awarded to students submitting stand-out works and Honorable Mentions are given to students showing great skill or potential.

Student submissions were judged by many leaders in the visual and literary arts, including past award recipients and luminaries. Judges look for originality, technical skill and the emergence of personal voice or vision.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards program is run by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and has scholarship partnerships with many art institutes, colleges and universities. Seniors earning Gold Medals, American Visions & Voices Medals, Portfolio Silver Medals or Portfolio Gold Medals in the competition can qualify for scholarships of up to $10,000 through the scholarship partners. More than $250,000 is given annually through awards and scholarships.

“It’s not about the winning awards, though, because that part is always subjective; when juries are evaluating art, it’s not a perfect process,” Lainie said. “But the experience of picking the work that you’re most proud of and putting it together in a format to submit to someone. I think that it’s a very good experience for students individually, as well as for the school as a whole, because this is an organization that has categories that really align with our classes at Northwest Academy and with the talents of our students. From the point of view of admissions and marketing, I really like it as an opportunity to see all that our amazing students are doing.”

The work of Gold Key award winners will be exhibited at the Pacific Northwest College of Art from Feb. 5 to Feb. 20.
Other Northwest Academy students who were recognized include Lily Applegate, Georgia Bonds-Abele, Annabel Cantor, Ian Cummings, Sarah Duran, Pearce Hyatt, Connor Johnson, Nadia Johnson, Sophie Mackay, Chloe Mathis, Aden Qamar, Ryan Richter and Charlotte Wilson-Kolp.

Deadlines for the next competition will begin on Dec. 17, 2015. Students in grades 7 through 12 may then submit pieces of art or writing by going to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards website.