A Gold Medal Portfolio Award is the highest honor students can receive in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Jurors choose portfolios by high school seniors whose works best represent the Scholastic Awards’ judging criteria: originality, skill, and the emergence of a personal vision or voice. These remarkable artists and writers will each receive a $12,500 scholarship.
Obenewaa Frimpomaa
Blick Art Materials Art Portfolio Award
Millburn, NJ
Throughout my artistic journey, I’ve been passionate about fostering intimate conversation: spaces that encourage inquiry, vulnerability, and community. As an artist, I aim to express these conversations and how we define and/or redefine ourselves as we reconcile with our history. In my artistic practice, I use the power of portraiture as a gateway to the personal and collective narrative. I’ve always gravitated towards the human figure as a subject because of its ability to highlight this tapestry of interacting identities and the dimensions of our history. I’m particularly passionate about the stories within the Black female experience. As I think about these conversations, I’m always drawn to intuitive ideation, allowing me to visualize the questions I grapple with. My sketchbook becomes a formative space for exploration, where my rawest concepts emerge. This emphasis on vulnerability within every aspect of my creative process points to the essential role conversation plays in my work. As I engage in this space, historical research becomes integral to enhancing authenticity in my art-making. My vision for this body of work is to share my passion for exploring creative communication and empowering Black girl youth in self-expression.
For Her Voices
Fairouz Bsharat
Dav Pilkey Writing Portfolio Award
Chesterfield, VA
I open the portfolio with my birth. My Name Is is my journey into accepting myself as I am. Comfortably living in the hyphen between Palestinian-American. It also seeks to solidify my connection to my culture despite my challenges with identity. Rifle Paper Co. + Venus Epilator with Shaver & Trimmer Attachments is a hermit crab essay. It is an experimental piece where I used the description of a hair-removing device to talk about my struggle being a hairy brown girl. I often dreamed when I was younger that if I just got rid of my body hair, I’d be beautiful. Everyone would love me and I’d stop getting bullied. I didn’t realize that my insecurities ran much deeper than that, but this essay was the first step in my healing process. Apologies in the Essence of Self is inspired by Sarah Einstein’s Self-Portrait in Apologies. Einstein uses the guilt built up over her lifetime to build a realistic mosaic of her being. I was struck by how many angles the piece covered. This portfolio is an amalgamation of who I am. My life between my first Adhan and future final prayer. Hear my stories, find yourself in them, and look toward your own future optimistically.
Apologies in the Essence of Self
Apology to the short girl in first grade
I’m sorry for making fun of you. All I could see was the top of your head, and it was too tempting not to poke fun. I thought we were friends. I did that to everyone I cared about. The best way to show my affection was to insult you. Years later, I’ll see you in the mosque and you’ll give me a mean look. When I confront you, you’ll tell me I bullied you in elementary school. I’m sorry for any hurt I caused you.
Apology to my bird for making fun of him
You came to us in a time of need. Your eyes are empty and reflect only what we need to see back at us. I’m sorry that the circumstance of your arrival wasn’t as a childhood pet or memory. I am sorry that I heard you flying in circles around the room and listened from the other side of the door as you crashed into it and slid down. I had to laugh. I couldn’t help myself.
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To see more Gold Medal Portfolio recipients, past and present, visit our Eyes on the Prize series.