The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are a national art and writing competition for teens in grades 7-12.  Founded by Maurice R. Robinson in 1923, the Scholastic Awards started out as a small competition in which student essays competed to be published in a magazine. In the following years, Scholastic added an art competition to determine the cover of the magazine. 

Over the next five decades, the art competition of the Scholastic Awards grew into numerous new categories that changed yearly. Some of the past categories include Tin Can Crafts and the Splatter Inks Art. The modern day art categories are now much less medium-specific, and they include the more familiar Digital Art, Illustration, and Photography. 

Every year, students submit work to a regional competition. The submission window opens near the beginning of the school year and closes in December. Regional awards are announced in January.  Works are judged on three criteria: originality, skill, and the emergence of personal voice and vision. Judges are highly selective; only about 15% of submissions are recognized with an award. The primary awards are the Gold Key (which progress to the national level), Silver Key, and Honorable Mention. The highest honor at state level is the American Visions Nominations and American Voices Nominations awards in art and writing respectively. Five pieces per state win from the pool of gold keys, and they advance to national judging in that category. An American Visions or Voices Award is the most honorable achievement in the competition. This year, almost thirty Academy students won a regional award in the art contest! National winners will be announced this March.