LHS Students Win National Art Awards

Lakewood High's National Scholastic Art winners Maya Sutliff and Garrett Bodnar.

Lakewood High School senior Maya Sutliff has been named a national Gold Medal winner - the highest honor - in the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and senior Garrett Bodnar a Silver Medal winner.

This competition is the nation's longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in grades 7–12. Within the Awards' 29 categories, which include poetry, photography, sculpture, humor, editorial cartoons, and video game design, a record-breaking 330,000 works of art and writing were submitted for adjudication at the regional level this year.

Sutliff won her Gold Medal, which represents the most outstanding work in the nation, in the Drawing & Illustration category and Bodnar won his Silver Medal in the Printmaking category. The two will be honored along with the other national winners and their teachers at a ceremony June 8 at Carnegie Hall. The 2,500 national winners represent 3% of the 85,000 artists that advanced from their regional competitions across the country in January.

Sutliff said she wasn't expecting to go any further than the regional competition. "​It was a nice surprise to get in the morning! I think the best part was honestly seeing how happy and excited Ms. Sedlak was," she said, referring to her teacher, Amy Sedlak.

In addition to Bodnar and Sutliff, eight Lakewood High school students were named Golden Key winners at the regional level and also had their work judged at the national level. Those regional winners are: Kaylee Banhidy (Photography); Micha Inak (Design); Faiza Manaa (Drawing & Illustration); Sara McMillen (Digital Art); Elyza Mihalski (Drawing & Illustration); Balint Muller (Photography - two awards); Ava Olic (Drawing & Illustration); and Maya O’Reilly (Ceramics & Glass).

The Scholastic Awards were founded in 1923 to offer recognition and scholarships for students for their artistic talents.

Read More on Schools
Volume 13, Issue 6, Posted 8:14 PM, 03.21.2017