CHS ceramics student Lila Downs with her Gold Key Award-winning piece, ‘Natural Curves.’
Last month, 85 students and one teacher from Carson High School were presented with awards at the 2024 Scholastic Art and Writing Contest ceremony in the Nightingale Concert Hall at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Carson High ceramics teacher Alisa Kuniya was recognized with the teacher award for her dedication to excellence in the arts by the quality of work produced by her students.
Of note, Lila Downs, Taylor Hunt, Katherine Mariscal, Sam Parker, Waylon Parr, Tannir Roush and Angel Vega were honored with Gold Key awards.
Emely Aguirre, Daniela Alvarez Martinez, Madi Baroni, Kira Bell, Claire Callister, Kylie Carrigan, Victoria Dao, Colin DeBord, Keira Jacobsen, Myleea Kever, Zach Laaker, Jamie McGee, Maverick Morgan, Tien Nguyen, Dylan O'Dell, Vanessa Quezada Lara, Eleanor Romeo, Miguel Servin, Nikolaiev Tressler, Mabel Wacker, Pebble Wiggins and Selma Works were honored with Silver Key awards.
The following students were also recognized for earning Honorable Mention awards: Daniela Alvarez Martinez, Madi Baroni, Laura Bennett, Kylie Carrigan, Sydney Clark, Shalom Cuevas, Tyler Currier, Victoria Dao, Lila Downs, Khia Dunbar, Joseluis Escobar, Alina Gastelo, Crystal Gonzalez, Makayla Halverson, Carlos Herrera, Owen Hickson, Cheyenne Hobbs, Myleea Kever, Shae LeBlanc, Arene LeBlanc, Alayna Limon-Gonzalez, Madalyn Lind Smith, Luet Lobsien, Javier Madrid, Katherine Mariscal, Kaz Matson, Jennifer Mora-Rodriguez, Joshua Moreno Ricardez, Maverick Morgan, Raul Mosqueda, Clare Mulvihill, Kenny Nguyen, Tien Nguyen, Owen Orvald, Sam Page, Riley Pulver, Arriel Ramirez, Ali Rasner, Bailey Rasner, Yuliana Renteria, Charlotte Roberts, Madeline Roberts, Tannir Roush, Aiko Ruelan, Emjae Salanoa, Gya Sanchez, Esau Torres Marquez, Valeria Vega, Lacey Williams, Selma Works, Avery Yarborough and Sonne Zambrana.
There were four fine arts teachers who attended the ceremony including ceramics teacher Alisa Kuniya, art teacher Karen McCraw, photography teacher Matthew Theilen and art teacher Adriane Wacker.
“We are very proud of how many hard-working, dedicated and talented students made contributions for this art competition,” McCraw said of the ceremony. “It is certainly an exciting time for artists here in Carson City.”
Gold Key Art was exhibited at Sheppard Contemporary gallery at UNR located in the Church Fine Arts building. American Visions Nominated Art was exhibited at Nevada Museum of Art. View the winners at https://youtu.be/_WWt5z03638.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards were founded in 1923 and, for more than a century, have inspired bold ideas in creative teens throughout the country. Entries are selected for awards by some of the foremost leaders in the visual and literary arts without knowledge of the student’s gender, age, ethnicity or hometown.
Jurors look for works that exemplify the Awards’ core values: originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. The awards are presented by the alliance for young artists and writers.
The alliance is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to identify students with exceptional artistic and literary talent and present their remarkable work to the world through the scholastic art and writing awards. The awards give students opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication and scholarships. In 2023, students across the United States and Canada entered more than 300,000 original works in 28 different categories of art and writing.
More information is available at artandwriting.org.