Since its inception, the Scholastic Awards Summer Scholarship Program (SAS) has awarded scholars with need- and merit-based scholarships to prestigious summer art and writing programs. Starting in early February, teens who have been recognized with a Silver or Gold Key in the current awards year submit a SAS Scholarship Application. The application includes the teen’s award-winning work, a selection of their best works, and an essay on their approaches to art or writing. We work with our partner summer programs to place students in a program that will enrich their artistic journeys.
The Scholastic Awards Summer Scholarship Program is made possible, in part, by the Garcia Family Foundation, the Maurice R. Robinson Fund, Dav and Sayuri Pilkey, and our twenty partner organizations, each of whom reserves one or more seats in their summer programs for a Scholastic Award–winning teen. Partners are located across the country and provide a wide range of offerings, including painting intensives, glasswork studios, journalism, environmental studies, and poetry writing immersions. The programs include a mix of virtual classrooms, in-person day camps, and boarding programs.
Our SAS Scholarship recipients represent all regions, diversities, and areas of creative interest. This year, our 50 selected teens were chosen from a pool of nearly 2,000 applicants that hail from every corner of the U.S., U.S. territories, and Canada. We’re excited to be able to provide them with the transformative experience of in-depth, individualized instruction alongside a group of like-minded peers.
Each year, scholarship winners tell us that their summer program helped them gain confidence in their work, build lasting connections with peers, and even shift their view of their creative practice. Our partners consistently report that their SAS Scholarship teens are gifted and motivated participants in the classroom, a testament to the strength and potential of the Scholastic Awards community.
Featured image: Reflection by Samantha Chase. Grade 11, Mukwonago High School, Mukwonago, WI. Gold Key, 2023. Samantha’s SAS program is the University of Michigan STAMPS.