The 2027 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards open for entries on October 1, 2026. Get ready for your best year yet by checking out these updates, reviewing the categories and plagiarism policy, and entering your original art and writing!
Entry Fee Update
As of October 1, 2026, entry fees are $15 for an individual entry and $40 for a portfolio entry. Fee waivers will continue to be available, ensuring that individual teens and their families who cannot afford the entry fee are able to participate.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are run by a small nonprofit organization and our regional partners; entry fees go right back into making the Awards possible. You may have noticed the current entry fees reflect an increase from previous years—this is a necessary change that allows our nonprofit organization to keep pace with the rising cost of administering the Awards. These entry fees will help us provide a nationwide community of creative teens with the high-quality opportunities, scholarships, and recognition they’ve come to expect from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Payment Process
Teens
While the process remains the same, we’ve made some visual improvements. All regions accept payment online by card; some regions also allow payment from teens by cash/check. Before payment, be sure to connect your entry to your educator or, if you don’t want to select a specific educator, your school!
Educators
We’ve upgraded our invoicing tool! This will be available only to educators in regions where invoicing has been enabled by your Regional Affiliate. With this tool, educators can view and add works to an invoice to their school, and the Awards Portal will generate and send that invoice to the valid email provided.
Educator access to this feature is limited to the works on which they are the credited educator. School administrators who wish to generate an invoice for all works at their school, from multiple educators, can reach out directly to their Regional Affiliate to request a full school invoice. Invoice policy and protocol are at your Regional Affiliate’s discretion and capacity.
Educators will also be able to pay for works that are still incomplete. This allows works to be judged as soon as the teen completes the entry, rather than risking delay or exclusion from judging while a school processes the check.
Entry fees to the Awards are nonrefundable; we recommend only paying for incomplete works that you are sure your students will complete on time.
Check out our website for more resources and guides on payment options and supporting your students’ entries more broadly.
Category Changes
Only you can decide which category fits your work best! But we get it, it’s hard.
Now, teens and educators can change a work’s category after it’s entered—up until the entry deadline. Be sure to read all the category descriptions carefully. If you’ve changed the category, make sure your entry is considered complete under the new requirements.
Not all categories can be changed after the work is entered. Depending on the entry requirements, you may have to make a new entry.
How to Document Your Work
What DPI should you save digital images on? How do you avoid your shadow appearing on your work when you photograph it? Be sure to check our new page Tips on How to Document Your Work. With help from our adjudication team and the folks who design the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards publications, we’ve put together a quick guide on the ins and outs of preparing artwork for entry.
New Affiliates
Help us in welcoming our new Affiliate Partners! These six partners join a group of more than 75 organizations that run the Awards at the regional level. Be sure to check your region for information on potential celebrations and exhibitions and to confirm your entry deadlines. You might have different dates for art and for writing.
- Canada Art Region – Art Village Visual Art School
- Maryland Art & Writing Region – Create Baltimore
- West Central Michigan Art Region – Grand Valley State University
- Long Island Art Region – Art League of Long Island
- Northern Virgina & DC Art & Writing Region – National Youth Visionaries Association
- Louisville Metropolitan Art Region – Jefferson County Public Schools
And that’s it! Be sure to check out our scholarship offerings and enter your work starting October 1! Deadlines vary by region and can be as early as December 1. Visit the My Region page to find your deadline(s).