Nearly 200,000 students will accept the challenge to go beyond the classroom assignment, creating daring and innovative works. They will submit their best pieces for review by panels of art and writing professionals, and compete for recognition, scholarships, and publication opportunities. Entering this competition is a fantastic opportunity for students to focus their creative energy and to make their voices heard.

Since 1923, more than 13 million of America’s most talented teens have participated in the Awards. 2.5 million students have been recognized through exhibitions and publications and have shared in more than $25 million in cash awards and college scholarships.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards has a long list of distinguished alumni that includes Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Richard Avedon, Zac Posen, Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Otterness, Sylvia Plath, John Lithgow, Ned Vizzini, Abdi Farah (winner of the reality show Work of Art: The Next Great Artist), and John Baldessari, who will accept this year’s Alumni Achievement Award at a Carnegie Hall Ceremony in May of 2011.