Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
2025 | 2022
1
National Gold Medal
1
Gold Key
6
Honorable Mentions
3
Silver Keys
* Awarded 1 of 149 National Gold Medals (Highest Honor) in Painting in 2025 *
Read the announcement: Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Announce the Class of 2025 National Medalists
View the online gallery of winning artworks: National Medal Winner Art Gallery
proximity and distance
oil on canvas | 24” x 30” | 2024
This piece invites the viewer to consider the social dynamics of urban life and the impact of modern technology on our ability to engage with those around us. Three figures sit shoulder to shoulder on the subway (much closer than strangers generally sit), but are oblivious to one another. They are so enamored by the latest social media trend or sensational headline plastered across the news, that they don't even realize there are real people to connect with within an inch of their physical selves. The painting is a reflection on contemporary culture and a quiet acknowledgment of the shared human experience within it, whether that be positive or negative.
National Gold Medal Winner
Regional Gold Key Winner
2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
pizza
oil on canvas | 30” x 24” | 2024
This painting depicts my friend and I preparing a homemade pizza in my warmly lit kitchen. The soft light streaming through the window scatters light throughout the room, creating a gentle rhythm that lightly covers our shoulders. Simple moments like this with friends are so important, especially because we only have one more year together in school before we go away to college. I like to paint scenes like this because they cement the emotions of the moment in my mind so that when the freshness of memory fades, I will be able to look at this piece and be transported back in time.
Regional Silver Key Winner
2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
cliff walk
oil on canvas paper | 20” x 16” | 2023
This is a scene I painted after a trip to Sicily with my family. The viewer's perspective from above invites them to follow the figures descending the rocky steps. Their movements are framed by desert-tropical plants and huge rock formations in the sea. I love the incredibly varied Italian coastline. From sandy beaches, to impossibly high cliffs, to mini islands dramatically rising from the sea, to the oceanic blues effortlessly melding between aqua and navy, my eyes never tire of the views. I maintained a vibrant but slightly muted color palette in this piece so it felt authentic but not too kitsch.
Regional Silver Key Winner
2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
chairlift
oil on canvas | 20” x 16” | 2024
Skiing is one of my favorite things to do, and I look forward to ski season every year. Of course I enjoy the actual physical death-defying act of racing down a mountain and making memories with family and friends. But I also appreciate the unparalleled majesty of the mountains, the quiet fall of snow, and the feeling of anticipatory stillness on the chair lift before the action begins. In this painting representing a recent family ski trip, atmospheric perspective becomes clear as the mountains in the distance begin to fade to blue. Each person on the chair lift stands out vibrantly against the dramatic background, a tiny representation of pent-up potential energy enjoying the silence before they burst down the mountain.
Regional Silver Key Winner
2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
self-portrait in blue
oil on canvas | 20” x 16” | 2024
This self-portrait represents my struggle with the rare condition of stereo blindness that prevents me from seeing in three dimensions. Although my disability has been a challenge for me in daily life, it has paradoxically helped me to excel in art by allowing me to fluidly translate the two dimensions I see onto a flat canvas. For me, painting bridges the gap between how I perceive the world around me and how others do. The use of a color palette of cool blues forces the viewer to experience a type of vision impairment by limiting their visual world to a single color which leads them to question whether their perception accurately reflects reality.
Regional Honorable Mention Winner
2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
portrait of the soul
oil on canvas paper | 24” x 18” | 2022
There is something very special to me about how the shapes of one's features can give different impressions, making the viewer feel an array of emotions simply by looking at them. I find the human eye the most challenging yet exciting anatomical component to paint—here, I capture a defiant yet helpless stare, with her gaze directly on the viewer to draw you in.
Regional Honorable Mention Winner
2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
spring at lawrenceville
oil on canvas | 24” x 18” | 2022
This is a painting of my best friend sketching in the park, a very happy and soothing memory. We love to be outdoors in nature whenever possible, and we often use our downtime to create art. Because our school schedules are so rigorous and demanding, special moments like this can feel like a religious experience. They connect us back to something greater than ourselves, and allow us forget our stresses for a short time. In this piece, I balance precision and fluidity, using refined edges for the subject’s hands and face while letting the surrounding environment dissolve into painterly abstraction. Forced perspective helps me to define a focal point for the viewer.
Regional Honorable Mention Winner
2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
the birth of venus
oil on canvas paper | 20” x 16” | 2022
This still life examines color, form, shadow, and light in an art historical context referencing the Dutch Golden Age. Venus is central and represents femininity, the book symbolizes knowledge and wisdom, and the shell represents Venus’s birth from the sea. This piece overall represents the human and specifically feminine pursuit of knowledge and beauty in an age where it is hard to keep a balance between the two.
Regional Honorable Mention Winner
2022 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
empty restaurants
oil on canvas | 18” x 24” | 2021
This piece creates a sense of isolation, loneliness, and emptiness. All of the seats are empty in what looks to be an opulent restaurant that should be alive and packed with happy families. The lonely times of COVID isolation have stuck with me, and this painting reflects my sincere hope that we never go back to a time of such profound and universal sadness.
Regional Honorable Mention Winner
2022 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
tuscany
gouache on paper | 24” x 28” | 2020
Regional Honorable Mention Winner
2022 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
