Archdiocese of Newark creative teens win prestigious arts awards

Thirty-one students in the Archdiocese of Newark have joined the likes of Sylvia Plath, Stephen King, and Andy Warhol, all of whom received the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in their teens.

This year’s awardees from the archdiocese hail from six schools:

Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest — Faith Youn, Eva Santelli, Gabriella Ragucci, Sungmin Park, Jiayi Ouyang, Isabella Lara, Evangeline Koo, Lauren Gumban, Ava Goyai, Natalia Gonzalez, Julianna Dail, Sophia Chounoune, and Yeon Choe;
Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit — Katherine Burke, Gabriella Cilli, Katharine Cugno, Jane Finney, Ava Racich, Mia Vigliotta, and Elise Wojie
Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell — Kyounghoon Ha, Jaejun Kang, Hun Lee, and Geonhyeoung Lee;
Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus — Ziyan Ni, Hoyeon Yang, Chloe Choi, and Rebekah Hong;
Academy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tenafly — Audrey Cho and Isabella Hur and:
St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City — Hugh Park.

The Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards celebrate creative teens on both a regional and national level with awards, exhibitions, publications, and scholarships.

This year, more than 260,000 works of art and literature were submitted by teens in the U.S. and Canada. Works by 40,000 teens received regional recognition, with 2,000 of those garnering national awards.

Students within the Archdiocese of Newark were judged alongside other applicants from the New Jersey region. Regional awards include the Gold Key, the Silver Key, and Honorable Mention. The awards are given based on originality, technical skill, and an emergence of a personal vision.

Elise Wojie, a student at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child, received the Gold Key Award for her photo “Floral Shield.”

“I love showing people how I view the world, especially when I am in nature,” Wojie said. “I am very dedicated to photography and when I won the award, it made me feel like I was recognized not only by my peers but other photographers and artists as well.”

According to Scholastic, just 5-7% of all regional submissions receive Gold Key recognition. Gold Key entries are automatically considered for national awards, including Gold Medal, Silver Medal with Distinction, Silver Medal, and scholarship awards.

Silver Keys are awarded for distinguished work at the regional level. 7-10% of regional submissions are recognized with Silver Key Awards. 10-15% of all regional submissions receive Honorable Mention Awards for works demonstrating artistic potential.

All regional winners in New Jersey also had their art featured in an exhibition at Gallery Aferro in Newark during the month of March. Student artists were invited to the opening night of the exhibition.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are open to all teens in grades 7-12 who apply in 28 categories of art and writing. Students are judged without knowledge of their gender, age, ethnicity, or hometown.

Gold Key-winner Jiayi Ouyang from the Academy of the Holy Angels is one of five teens in the region to be nominated for an American Visions Award. American Visions Award nominees must have a work that expresses an original voice or vision. Ouyang created ‘We All Deserve a Home’ when the Russian Ukraine War first started. The drawing features a large hand gently cradling a small home with a blue roof and yellow sides above a crumbling city.

“The piece is inspired by my hope for world peace, but especially for the Ukrainians,” Ouyang said. “The chaos in the background of the piece is the current situation in Ukraine. The hand shows the protection, and the house colored in blue and yellow represents Ukraine. The hand that is holding up the little house conveys my message that we all deserve a home.”

Judges look for works that are original, reflect individual skill, and highlight the emergence of a personal voice or vision, according to the Scholastic website. Judges are looking for work that demonstrates an authentic outlook and transcends typical classroom assignments and social media trends.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards turn 100 this year and the competition is the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. The competition was established in 1923 by Scholastic Magazines Inc. founder and publisher Maurice R. Robinson. The program also recognizes the role arts educators play in the cultivation of this creativity.

In addition to the 31 students who achieved this prestigious award, two schools within the Archdiocese — Mount Saint Dominic Academy and Saint Joseph Regional High School — were also recognized by the American Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) for their 2022 Yearbooks, Magazines, and Newspapers Contest.

Since 1921, the NSPA has promoted the standards and ethics of good journalism through education, training, and recognition programs for student organizations. The annual Yearbooks, Magazines and Newspapers Contest hosted by the NSPA “are the most-competitive, most-honored prizes in scholastic journalism.”

Entries are judged by teams of professionals based on coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography, and graphics.

Mount Saint Dominic Academy took first place in the 2022 Scholastic Magazine Award, and Saint Joseph Regional High School took first place in the 2022 Scholastic Yearbook Award.