The Scholastic Art and Writing Competition is a national competition that allows students all the way from seventh grade to high school to be recognized for their creative abilities, while holding the opportunity to win scholarships to support their artistic endeavors and continue on with their creative path. Being recognized in this competition is an honor as it is the one of the most acknowledged and commended programs that has been around in the United States since 1923.
At St. Petersburg High School, the art teachers work hard to provide their students with the skill sets and creative palette to be eligible for everything from local shows to national programs like Scholastic. This year SPHS art students brought home a variety of awards from honorable mentions to gold keys in the Scholastic competition, and for some students, this is their second year in a row doing so. Each students’ piece being vastly different from one another conjures the question of what it takes to make a Scholastic worthy piece.
When faced with this query, 2025 SPHS Scholastic winners had a multitude of ideas to offer. AP 2-D art student Anderson Dell submitted a piece in the photography category called The Weight of a Yellow Backpack in which received a regional gold key and will go on to be judged at the national level. Anderson offers, “The photo was inspired by the idea how creativity and standing out can sometimes feel like a burden. I honestly thought that this was the weaker of the two pieces I put in and thought it would get an honorable mention or maybe silver key.” Last year, Anderson won an honorable mention for a piece reflecting Japanese culture. According to Anderson, the shift from an honorable mention to a gold key was the photo quality. Anderson says, “I took the first photo on my phone while the second was on a DSLR Camera.”
In a different category, mixed media, Mia Trakilovic, an AP 2-D art student, won a regional gold key for a woven work which, like Anderson’s piece, will be sent in and judged nationally. Mia states that the story behind her piece was, “inspired by the topic of mental health, more importantly the ignorance and fear of talking about it. [She] wanted to portray both the good and the bad, and how there are so many components that play into one’s state of mind.” It’s not only skill that goes into creating a Scholastic work, but a meaningful and impactful message to connect it to. For her mediums, Mia used cloth and thread after pasting a portrait she took in class onto the cloth. With Mia’s piece being more physically laborious, sewing it together by hand, she claims that she “spent close to a week on [her] piece. All of it was done in class, each class period being 45 minutes.”
Back in the photography category, AP 2-D art student and a previous 2024 Scholastic award winner, Olivia Sonberg won an honorable mention this year for a photograph she took of her mother. Olivia’s photo is called Reminiscence, and she says that her “idea was mostly inspired by [her] inquiry in [her] portfolio, which is about childhood nostalgia that presents itself to all age groups.” If anything, Olivia is a prime example on how winning a Scholastic is possible even without any excessive or intricate materials as she used her mother as her model, a prop from her house, and edited the photo in class before she submitted it.
However, we must give credit where credit is due. These students agreed that they could not do it without the help of their art teacher Ms. Koral. Anderson says, “My art teacher advised me to change the color contrasts in the photo. At first the photo was a warmer color, but adding a cooler tint and a vignette made the backpack a stronger focal point.” And Mia presents, “My art teacher was super helpful when it came to choosing specific colors or patterns and composing a piece that flowed together but highlighted the divide in my concept of mental health.”
To prepare for the competition the students spent time inside and outside of the classroom working on their pieces to meet the deadline. Although some of the work dug into their free time at home, it clearly paid off in the long run. Ideas and inspiration often came from art teachers and other students in the art room as did making the final touches. Evidently, time and dedication, constructive criticism, peer feedback, and most importantly storytelling are the building blocks of what it takes to win a Scholastic.
