On Wednesday, friends and supporters of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards gathered at our national office in NYC to kick-off our 90th anniversary, to celebrate our collected history, and to officially launch our new publication, The Great Encouragement by Bryan Doerries. Over the past 90 years, the Scholastic Awards have recognized millions of teens for their creative achievements. This unique publication, with cover art by alum Winston Chmielinksi (’06), follows the Scholastic Awards from their  beginnings in 1923 to the creation of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers through today’s Awards, which receive over 230,000 submissions nationwide and offer over $8 million in annual scholarships.

Stepping into the pages of our history, guests celebrated by having vintage Polaroids taken with Awards’ poster boy Andy Warhol (’45), were surprised by flash readings of winning student writing spanning the past nine decades – A Dawn You’ll Never See by Joyce Carol Oates (’56); Wanderlust by Richard Avedon (’41), Itch by Myla Goldberg (’89), God Dies by Frances Farmer (‘31), 3A Essay by Hugh Gallagher (‘90), and Life – From Behind a Counter by Bernard Malamud (‘32). There was also an opportunity to win the night’s raffle: a 3D printer by 3D Systems!

Some of our special guests included artist Tom Otterness (‘70), alum and Pratt Institute President Thomas Schutte, actors Blair Brown and Ismael Cruz Cordova, as well as many of our national and New York region-at-large jurors. Check out the photos below!

Copies of The Great Encouragement are available throughout our 90th Anniversary year. Get yours today, and join in the celebration of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ incredible creative student history.