TL;DR: The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running recognition program for creative teens, open to students in grades 7 through 12 who are at least 13 years old. The 2027 Awards open for entries on October 1, 2026, regional deadlines run from December 1, 2026 to as late as January 6, 2027 depending on region, and Regional Announcement Day is January 27, 2027, with national results following in the spring and a New York ceremony in June. Work advances from regional Honorable Mention, Silver Key, and Gold Key recognition to national Silver and Gold Medals, judged on originality, technical skill, and personal voice or vision. Sources: Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, official 2027 Awards calendar; Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, 2026.
For applicants building a creative profile, the Scholastic Awards are the most widely recognized external validation available before college, and the tier a student reaches determines what the credential can do. To discuss your strategy, schedule a consultation with Oriel Admissions.
What Are the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards?
Founded in 1923 and administered by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, the Scholastic Awards have handed early recognition to an improbable roster of future icons – Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, and Stephen King among them. The program runs through roughly 100 regional affiliates, each judging entries from its own territory before the strongest work advances to national judging in New York. Students submit through a single online portal in nearly 30 categories spanning writing – poetry, short story, personal essay, journalism, and more – and visual art from drawing and painting through photography, film, and digital work.
Eligibility is broad: grades 7 through 12, age 13 or older at entry, residing in the United States, U.S. territories or military bases, or Canada. Entry fees are modest – $15 per individual entry and $40 per portfolio under the current published fee schedule – and fee waivers are available during submission, which is part of why admissions offices treat the program as a genuinely open national field rather than a pay-to-play credential.
The 2027 Scholastic Awards Timeline
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Entry portal opens for the 2027 Awards | October 1, 2026 |
| Earliest regional entry deadline | December 1, 2026 |
| Latest regional entry deadlines | Through January 6, 2027 (varies by region) |
| Regional Announcement Day – Keys and Honorable Mentions posted | January 27, 2027 |
| National results announced | Spring 2027 (March in the most recent cycle) |
| National Awards Week and New York ceremony | June 2027 (June 9 to 11 in the most recent cycle) |
Source: Alliance for Young Artists and Writers official calendar; regional dates vary and art and writing deadlines can differ within a region – confirm through the Region Locator at artandwriting.org.
Two calendar details do most of the damage each year. Deadlines are regional, so a family that reads a national article instead of their own affiliate page can miss by a month – Hawaii, for example, closes December 12 – and within a single region the art and writing deadlines are sometimes different dates. The Region Locator on the official site is the only source worth trusting.
How the Award Tiers Work: Keys, Medals, and Portfolios
Regional judging produces three tiers: Honorable Mention, Silver Key, and Gold Key. Gold Key works advance automatically to national judging, where a second panel awards national Silver Medals and Gold Medals; Gold Medalists are honored at the June ceremony in New York, traditionally at Carnegie Hall. Graduating seniors may also submit portfolios – a curated body of work in art or writing – and the top senior portfolio awards carry scholarships. Jurors at both levels score against the same three published criteria: originality, technical skill, and personal voice or vision, and work is judged blind, without names or schools attached.
On selectivity, regional Gold Keys have gone to roughly the top 5 to 7% of entries and national medals to about 1%, per figures the Alliance has published in past cycles. The tier structure is the honest map for families: an Honorable Mention is encouragement, a Silver or Gold Key is a real regional credential, and a national medal places a student at the top of the largest creative field in the country.
What Scholastic Awards Signal in Elite Admissions
Creative applicants face the same structural problem as humanities applicants: coursework and grades cannot show what the work itself shows. The Scholastic Awards solve it with a credential admissions readers already know how to calibrate. A national Gold Medal is a headline distinction that can anchor an application narrative – especially alongside a supplemental portfolio at schools that accept one – while Gold and Silver Keys function as strong supporting evidence that a creative identity claimed in essays is externally real. Writers building this profile often pair the Scholastic Awards with the John Locke Essay Competition, which validates argumentative rather than creative writing, and the two together cover the full range of what an English or humanities applicant needs to prove.
Report the honors in the Common App Honors section – national medals at the national level, Keys at the state or regional level – and let the underlying work carry the Activities section and any portfolio submission. The calendar gives seniors one live advantage: Regional Announcement Day falls on January 27, inside regular decision review, so a senior who earns a Key can pass the update to colleges through the additional information channel or a counselor note while files are open. Juniors and younger students should treat the Awards as an annual rhythm – the students who reach national medals almost always submitted in multiple years, and the program sits naturally beside the selective summer programs and contests in our overview of academic competitions as part of a sustained creative record.
How to Submit Strategically
Category selection is underrated leverage. The same piece is often eligible in two or three categories – a personal narrative might enter Personal Essay and Memoir or Flash Fiction depending on framing – and fields differ in depth; the Humor category was removed for the current era, pushing that work into Short Story, Flash Fiction, or Personal Essay. Multiple entries are allowed, and serious candidates submit several works rather than betting a cycle on one piece. Back-plan from the regional deadline, not the portal opening: for a December 1 region, revision should be finishing in November, and the October 1 portal opening is for entering, not for starting.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, run by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers since 1923, are the longest-running recognition program for creative teens in the United States. Students in grades 7 through 12 submit work in nearly 30 art and writing categories, judged first regionally and then nationally.
The entry portal opens October 1, 2026, and deadlines vary by region: the earliest regional deadline is December 1, 2026 and the latest run to January 6, 2027. Art and writing deadlines can differ within a single region, so students should confirm through the Region Locator on the official site.
Gold Keys are the top regional award, alongside Silver Keys and Honorable Mentions, and all Gold Key works advance automatically to national judging. Gold Medals and Silver Medals are the national awards, and Gold Medalists are honored at the June ceremony in New York.
Regional Gold Keys have gone to roughly the top 5 to 7% of entries and national medals to about 1%, per figures the Alliance has published in past cycles. Judging is blind and scored on originality, technical skill, and personal voice or vision.
Yes, with the weight scaling by tier: a national Gold Medal is a headline credential that can anchor a creative application, while Gold and Silver Keys serve as strong regional validation of a claimed creative identity. Regional results arrive January 27, in time to update regular decision applications.
Students in grades 7 through 12 who are at least 13 years old at entry and reside in the United States, U.S. territories or military bases, or Canada. Entry fees are $15 per individual work and $40 per portfolio under the current published schedule, and fee waivers are available.
Yes. Graduating seniors may submit a curated portfolio of work in art or writing in addition to individual entries, and the top senior portfolio awards carry scholarships. Portfolios are judged as a body of work, which rewards range and a coherent creative identity.
Yes. Students may enter multiple works across multiple categories in the same cycle, and strong candidates usually do, since each work is judged independently. The same piece may fit more than one category, so category choice is itself a strategic decision.
Sources: Alliance for Young Artists and Writers – 2027 Awards Calendar, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts – 2027 Scholastic Awards
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