CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Christopher Cruise. On our program this week, we play music from Lady Gaga's latest release.

But first, we tell about the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards – high honors for some for young people. And, we meet one of the big winners.

(MUSIC)

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Hundreds of young artists are gathering in New York for a ceremony to honor them and their work. They will receive the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. The awards have been in existence for more than eighty years. Some earlier winners have gone on to become famous. They include artist Andy Warhol, writer Sylvia Plath and actor/director Robert Redford .

Here is Faith Lapidus with more about the awards and their administrator, the non-profit group Alliance for Young Artists and Writers.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Scholastic is a worldwide publishing, education and media company. It produces books, magazines, film and toys for children. The Scholastic website says a main goal of the company is to help boys and girls read and learn.

The company was formed ninety years ago. The Scholastic Awards for Art and Writing followed soon after.

VIRGINIA MCENERNEY: "The awards were started in 1923 by M.R. Robinson who wanted to find a way to give recognition and encouragement to students who were creative and who were doing original artistic and literary work in the classroom."

Virginia McEnerney is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. She says M. R. Robinson saw an imbalance between recognition of success in sports and of that in the arts. These are his words about the awards.

VIRGINIA MCENERNEY: "The purpose of the awards was to give those high school students who demonstrate superior talent and achievement in things of the spirit and of the mind at least a fraction of the honors and rewards accorded to their athletic classmates for demonstrating their bodily skills."

Virginia McEnerney says the Scholastic founder's statement from nineteen twenty-three is still true today.

VIRGINIA MCENERNEY: "Most high school students spend their high school years walking through hallways filled with trophy cases for athletes. We are still the only national program giving creative teenagers the kind of validation and support fundamental to their development, confidence, to their commitment to their path."

Ms. McEnerney says the program has grown. She says only seven young people entered the competition in the first year it was held. This year, she says, there were one hundred eighty-five thousand entries. And, that is almost double the number of entries the Alliance received last year.

Why was the growth so intense? Virginia McEnerney says she believes technology was partly responsible. The ability of students to present their work online has made the program open to more young artists. But she believes there may also be cultural reason.

VIRGINIA MCENERNEY: I think there's a big, kind of, "maker" movement going on, a DIY [do-it-yourself] crafter movement. So there's a lot more handmade work going on."

Music and art education budgets have been cut at many American schools in recent years. Also, President Obama and other officials have expressed concern that too few students are seeking degrees in what are called the STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. But Virginia McEnerney says arts should not be ignored.

VIRGINIA MCENERNEY: "We do hear a lot about STEM, but we also hear learning experts talk about STEAM, putting the arts in the middle."

She says the arts help develop imaginative problem-solving and a fearlessness that is successful in any field.

The Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards are open to students around the world in grades seven through twelve. The entries are first judged in local competitions. Nominees for national prizes are sent to New York. The jurors there include famous artists and writers.

Virginia McEnenerny says award entries have developed over the years. There is now an award for best video game design. Photo shop programs have affected the kind of images the Alliance receives. But she says jurors often note similar themes or ideas within the entries.

VIRGINIA MCENERNEY: "This year, for whatever reason, it was dangling feet. And sometimes we couldn't tell if they were dangling or jumping. But last year we saw a lot of pipes and piping. So we do see some resonant imagery."