Press Releases

Students in grades 7-12 receive recognition in national competition.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ann McGuire
Director of Communications
amcguire@cia.edu
216.421.7417

CLEVELAND (Ohio) – Nearly 150 Cuyahoga County students in grades 7-12 have won top honors in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the Cleveland Institute of Art announced. The Scholastic Awards competition, a 91-year-old national program that recognizes and gives scholarships to creative teens around the United States, was hosted locally by CIA as a public service for the 34^th straight year.

Young people from public and private schools throughout the county submitted 2,583 works of art and 442 written pieces in a multitude of categories for the chance to earn scholarships and have their works exhibited or published. The local Gold Key winners will go on to the national competition in New York City.

A complete list of award winners is below.

“Cuyahoga County students are producing some amazing artwork,” said Tom Berger, CIA's assistant director of continuing education + community outreach and the lead organizer of the competition. “We had a tremendous response this year from 71 different schools across the county. I'm grateful to all the teachers who instructed and inspired these students, made the effort to submit student work, and volunteered to help in many other ways. As in the past, we could not have hosted this competition without the support of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.”

Professional artists, designers and writers judged more than 3,000 entries from Cuyahoga County students. Thirty-four student writers – from such institutions as Orange High School, University School and Rocky River High School – were awarded Gold Keys. Another 140 student artists – who hail from schools including Cleveland School of the Arts and Shaker Heights and North Olmsted high schools – were awarded Gold Keys. In addition to the Gold Key winners, judges awarded 185 Silver Keys and 432 honorable mentions in art; and 69 Silver Keys and 118 honorable mentions in writing. All award winners have their work on display in the Reinberger Galleries of CIA’s Gund Building, 11141 East Boulevard, through Jan. 31.

The following 11 different regional awards were presented: The Herbert Ascherman Award for Photography to Pierra Heard, Cleveland School of the Arts; Jessica Kukura, Olmsted Falls High School; and Alaina Lucien, Cleveland School of the Arts; KeyBank Drawing Award to Kiersten Pappas, Chagrin Falls High School; The Sue Wall Award for Painting to Caroline Galicki, Chagrin Falls High School; The Gabriel Reichel Sculpture Imagination Award to Leigh Ann Fairley, Laurel High School; Gary & Almut Zvosec Award for Mixed Media to Grace Harms, Bay High School; Janey Award for Jewelry to Maahiy Abdul-Zahir, Shaker Heights High School; Architecture/Design/Digital Art Award to Matt Nicolay, St. Ignatius High School; Printmaking Award to Greta Burry, St. Joseph Academy; Film + Animation/Comic Art Award to Gabe Nobert, Shaker Heights High School; Ceramics & Glass Award, Owen Davenport, St. Ignatius High School; and the Utrecht & Blick ArtSupplies Achievement Award to Kiersten Pappas, Chagrin Falls High School; Emma Schmotzer, Rocky River High School; and Sam Woods, Hawken School.

Each year, more than 77,000 students from across the country participate in the Scholastic Art & Writing competition. Over $8 million in scholarships go annually to recipients of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards nationwide. High-school seniors earning National Medals are eligible to receive scholarships through partnerships with colleges and universities.

Nationally, alumni of the Scholastic awards program include such visual artists as Andy Warhol, Philip Pearlstein, Cy Twombly and Richard Avedon; writers Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote and Joyce Carol Oates; actors Frances Farmer, Robert Redford, Alan Arkin, and John Lithgow; and filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Ken Burns.

Cuyahoga County Scholastic Gold Key winners in art:

• Bay High School: Elizabeth Auckley, Grace Harms, Thomas Shelton, Aubrey Theobald, and Grace Veres;
• Bay Middle School: Adrianna Chesterfield, Maria Dilallo, Luke Fortunato, Daina Renerts, and Anelise Seicean;
• Beaumont School: Nell Bornhorst, Megan Celestina, Tricia Newman, and Ana Maria Vargas;
• Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School: Sara Aldridge, Andrea Iannantuono, Alicia Lusetti, and Isaac Luther;
• Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School: Isidora Majstorovic, Nathan Maslowski, and Ava Traum;
• Brush High School: Joe Bloom, Dayna Fine, Aaron Goldweber, Chris Martin, and Anthony, Messina;
• Chagrin Falls High School: Caroline Galicki, Natalie Krill, and Kiersten, Pappas;
• Chagrin Falls Middle School: Lucy Ranieri;
• Cleveland Heights High School: Adrian Berr;
• Cleveland School of the Arts: Dymond Brown, Austin Casto, Myonna Gardner, Pierra Heard, Alaina Lucien, Brandy Rivers, Destiny Tyus, and DyAnna Washington;
• Gilmour Academy Upper School: Maggie Kubicek, Gaetan Langlois-Meurinne, and Cassie Nannicola;
• Hathaway Brown High School: Claire Swanson and Rebecca Weinberger;
• Hawken School: Erica Fearon, Olivia Marino, and Sam Woods;
• Julie Billiart School: Marie O'Brien;
• Lakewood High School: Asia Atkinson, Hayden Bish, Madison Heasley, Dillon Morana, Sarah Neff, Madison Shelton, and Alex, Sierputowski;
• Laurel School: Leigh Ann Fairley, Gabriel Gerhart, Julia Murphy, Aly Petti, and Rachel Rabin;
• Mayfield High School: George Hawkins, and Hanniya Qureshi;
• North Olmsted High School: Marah Beach, Quinn, Kacirek, and Catherine Stolar;
• Olmsted Falls High School: Jessica Bobik, Victoria Hartline, and Jessica, Kukura;
• Orange High School: Becca Alberty, Daaryush Badii, Zoe Carlson, Amirah Cunningham, Julia Frohlich, Elizabeth Kenagy, Heather Miller, Madeleine Rico, Rachel Tenney, and Jordan Wade;
• Rocky River High School: Alex Lenhart, and Emma Schmotzer;
• Shaker Heights High School: Samantha Butler, Izabelle Carlson, Chrtistoph FitzGerald, Lauren Jensen, Noa Katz, Conor Matthews, William McKnight, Ellie Montenegrol, Gabe Nobert, Maeve Scully, Jessica Stahl, and Yixuan Wang;
• St. Ignatius High School: Owen Davenport, and Matt Nicolay;
• St. Joseph Academy: Leah Brookins, Melissa Johnson, Nicole McManamon, Misty Mencin, Elizabeth Millar, and Nina Ripich;
• The Ratner Schools: Isabel Hoffman, and Katya Yudushkin;
• University School: Peter Davis, Mathew Engles, Sam Garson, Evan Krueger, Holden Milstein, Maxwell Monahan, Jason Outcalt, Alec Sivit, Jake Turben, and Abe Zimerman;
• Westlake High School: Madeline Chernosky, and Sadie Roff;
• Out of School Programs: Sydney Gerteis, Katelyn Holbury, Jenna Perry, and Maggie Stickley

Cuyahoga County Scholastic Gold Key winners in writing:

• Beaumont School: Anna Libertin, and Tyler, Williams;
• Birchwood School: Topstone Liang, Kevin Stark, and Caroline Vlastaris;
• Hathaway Brown High School: Sarah Adler, Dhikshitha Balaji, Nicole Chesnokov, Abigail Cho, Zoe Guy, Becca Lambright, Olivia Leslie, Susie Min, Grace Phillips, and Haley Wellener;
• Hathaway Brown Middle School: Camryn Parsons;
• Hawken School: Erica Fearon, Sarah Stark, and Naomi Wu;
• Lakewood Catholic Academy: Emma Becker;
• Laurel School: Olivia Petryszyn;
• Orange High School: Jordan Brown, and Isabel Sands;
• Rocky River High School: Emma McGorray;
• Solon High School: Monika Bandi;
• St. Joseph Academy: Lexi Lynch;
• Trinity High School: Noah Depew;
• University School: Jeff, Holland

About CIA

Founded in 1882, the Cleveland Institute of Art is an accredited, independent college of art and design offering 15 majors in studio art, digital art, craft disciplines, and design. CIA extends its programming to the public through gallery exhibitions; lectures; a robust continuing education program; and the Cinematheque, a year-round art and independent film program. CIA’s public programming is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. For more information visit cia.edu.

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