On a Wednesday afternoon in June, I’m standing in a crowd outside of Carnegie Hall waiting to be collected by a publicist. She fishes me out and ferries me through a backstage door and into the white-walled belly of Carnegie Hall, humming with men in headsets and women taking backstage photos.
I’m not here to write about a concert or a performance. I’m here for the Scholastic Awards, an annual ceremony where teenagers from across America convene to be celebrated for excellence in art and writing.
When the publicist emailed me the day prior, her pitch made me think of the Scholastic Book Fair, a favorite shared memory of Gen Z and millennials, and my own recollections of showing up to school with cash to buy a copy of Hoot and an eraser shaped like a hamster.
I never applied to the Scholastic Awards (alumni include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath and Richard Avedon), but the universe of Scholastic feels like a safe space in the mass malaise of former gifted children and the new world order vibes of the College Board and the Common App.
I was curious to see how that magic holds up for the generation born after the financial crisis.
Hometown: South Florida
Winning project: A 6-page comic about a post-apocalyptic world where this monstrous skeleton kind of guy explores the world and he meets this girl and he tries to restore his humanity.
Dream job: My dream job would be either a scientific illustrator for textbooks, or just working as a comic artist would be awesome.
Style inspiration: I really, really love the 2000s emo or scene kind of style. But also like, combining some more feminine elements like polka dots.
Hometown: Brooklyn
Winning project: It was a year-long photo project about this man named Michael Scott who owns the last pigeon store in New York City. I went before school, probably like 7 times during the year, and I would document him and his pigeons. He had a coop of around 600 pigeons when I first started visiting him, and then slowly the pigeons got this disease. I got to document the whole entire thing, and now me and Michael are really good friends.
On her outfit: I changed in a Starbucks bathroom because I didn’t have any time, and now I’m here, and I have a math final at 8 A.M. tomorrow morning. And right after this, I’m going to watch the Knicks game, which is definitely not the best thing to do. But you know what? The Knicks aren’t going to get this far again.
Dream job: Photojournalist for The New York Times
Hometown: Columbia, SC and Boston, MA (they met today!)
Winning project:
My portfolio focused on the beauty of Black people. I wanted to have representation in modern day art and old art. — Jason
I submitted a portfolio called Human Emotion of 6 black and white portraits of people, ranging from little kids to old people. — Anoke
Dream job:
Be one of those famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci. — Jason
I do a lot of sports photography, and my dream job short-term is NBA photographer. Long term, I want to work with like, Nike and Adidas on ad campaigns, and create content for major brands. — Anoke
Hometown: New Jersey
Winning project: 2 oil pastel drawings
Dream job: Animator at Pokémon
Hometown: Richmond, VA
Winning project: I do needle felting visual art, so I did a portrait and then this picture of a dead deer that I found on the road.
On her outfit: This outfit is like 80 years old. My great grandma made it herself.
Dream job: The ultimate goal would be to marry visual arts and environmental science. I haven’t found it yet, but I’ll figure it out.
Hometown: Wellesley, MA
Winning project: I made a pair of brass shoes. It took about 2 months.
Dream job: I would love to work in an haute couture design space.
Favorite designer: Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli
Hometown: Minnesota
Winning project: A dress covered in over 500 flowers with a train over 100 inches long.
Post-ceremony plans: Get soup dumplings.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.