A pair of Harriton High School students have earned national recognition in the 2023 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. These students were identified by panels of creative professionals as the most talented young artists in the nation as their submissions were selected for excellence in originality, technical skill and emergence of personal voice.

This year, more than 100,000 students submitted 300,000+ works of art and writing to the competition. Less than 2,000 of these received a national medal, which puts Harriton’s honorees in the top 1% of student-artists nationwide.

Senior Willa Salmanson won a Gold Medal for a beautiful and intricate mask she designed and created titled The Circus Arrives, while classmate Mekala Kumar earned two Silver Medals: one for Silk Road, her aptly-named, stunning portfolio of six pieces of artwork, and her submission to the digital art category, which she named Mother Nature's Hotline.

To explore the an online gallery of all of the award-winning pieces on the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers' website, click here!

Since 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized the vision, ingenuity and talent of our nation's youth, and provided opportunities for creative teens to be celebrated. Alumni of the contest include luminaries like Andy Warhol, Hughie-Lee Smith, Sylvia Plaith, Truman Capote, Robert Redford, Ken Burns, Richard Linklater and many more. The mission of the Alliance is to identify students with exceptional artistic and literary talent and present their work to the world through this annual competition.