Henrico Public School students recognized in prestigious national art and writing awards

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WWBT) – Four students from Henrico County Public Schools have been recognized in this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running scholarship and recognition program for young artists and writers in grades 7 through 12, according to the program’s website.

The school division’s winners were selected out of over 260,000 entries throughout the United States and Canada. This year the program saw a 25% increase in entries over 2021.

Winners are eligible to be published in national print and online collections, as well as nominations for top college scholarship opportunities.

Out of the four students recognized, three will be at an awards ceremony in New York City.

Three students at the Center for the Arts at Henrico High School won awards for visual arts entries and a Mills Godwin High School student won two medals for poetry in the writing portion of the competition.

Andrew Palmer of the Center for the Arts won the nation’s top award for his senior portfolio, titled “Blackness in Frame.”

Only 11 students were recognized with a Gold Key Portfolio award. He will be published in a national publication, will participate in a virtual panel in May and will receive a $10,000 scholarship. Including Palmer, HCPS’ Center for the Arts has had four of the 75 national portfolio winners since 2014.

Cameryn McNeil, also a Center for the Arts student, was a Gold Key visual arts winner for “Loc’d.” She was one of only a handful of students in the commonwealth to win in the Digital Art category.

Jordyn Johnson with the Center for the Arts won a silver medal in the Comic Arts category for “A Trip to the Museum.”

Mia Tan, a senior at Mills Godwin High School, won twice in the writing competition’s poetry category, taking home a gold medal for “A Sister’s Departure” and a silver medal for “Bedside Promises.”

Palmer, McNeil and Tan are among a select group of students going to New York City to be honored at a special ceremony on June 8 at Carnegie Hall.

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