Archmere Students Receive American Vision Nomination and Gold Key Art Awards

To recognize their outstanding work, all Gold Key and Silver Key recipients were invited, along with their guests, teachers, and jurors, to the 2020 Awards Ceremony for the Delaware Art and Writing Region of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, held at Delaware State University in Dover on February 8, 2020. In attendance along with Margaret Atkins '21, Meghan Presta '20 and Lauren Wilson '20 were the student’s art teachers Maia Palmer, Jody Hoffman, and Terry Newitt.

A panel of visual artists, professional editors, poets, and fiction writers selected art and writing winners from more than 3,000 art and literature works submitted this year from talented teens from across Delaware. Gold Keys were awarded to the most accomplished works and 5 American Visions Nominees were selected as the strongest regional works. 

Each Scholastics Region selects five American Vision Nominees, one of which was Margaret Atkins ’21 for her entry in the Drawing and Illustration category, titled iChildhood: Growing Up Pixelated.  The nominees are selected from all Gold Key Awards and are considered to be the best in show.  National Scholastics will select one of the five American Vision nominees to represent the Delaware Region at the National exhibition.

This year, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nation's longest-running (since 1923) and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in grades 7-12, received nearly 350,000 works of art and writing for adjudication from regional affiliates, including Archmere Academy. This program gives thousands of students throughout America the opportunity to broaden their creative horizons while earning local and national recognition. The objective is to foster the confidence of young artists and give them the opportunity to be recognized for their creative achievements by the world at large. 

The Awards program also partners with art institutes, colleges, and universities to earmark scholarships for college-bound Scholastic Awards recipients. Meghan Presta ’20 received a scholarship award from Delaware Foundation for the Visual Arts President Ryan Grover.