The Next Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates or Robert Redford?

NEW YORK, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- What do Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates and Robert Redford have in common? As teenagers, these American icons were recognized by The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, a national program that offers early recognition of creative teenagers and scholarship opportunities for graduating high-school seniors. Now an 84-year-old tradition, the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards today announced the most recent teens to be recognized for their work, including the twelve high school seniors honored with the highest level of achievement, the Portfolio Gold Award. The twelve recipients (listed below) represent the most talented young artists and writers in America, and will each receive a $10,000 cash award.

In addition, 1,100 of America's most talented junior high and high school youth (grades 7-12) were also chosen to receive national awards and scholarship opportunities. Since Scholastic founded the program in 1923, more than 13 million have participated in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and 2.5 million have been recognized and shared in more than $25 million in cash awards and college scholarships. An additional $1.5 million in tuition scholarships is made available to Portfolio Gold and Portfolio Silver Award recipients through The Awards.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc. a nonprofit organization, bring outstanding visual art and writing created by teenagers to a national audience by showcasing their remarkable work and encouraging their creative journey and career development. Other distinguished past recipients include Richard Avedon, John Lithgow, Joyce Maynard, Bernard Malamud, Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Otterness, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Charles White and Sherley Anne Williams. The Awards continue to provide a platform for creative expression for millions of youth across the country.

"The 1,100 recipients recognized by The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards this year illustrate the level of excellence that is possible when communities give kids the opportunity to nurture the creative spark within them. We need to make sure that more young people have the chance to develop their own authentic voices," said B.J. Adler, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. "For eighty-four years, the Awards have been an oasis for creative young people, giving recognition to teenagers who have become some of our nation's most significant artists and writers."

On June 15, 2007, the Award recipients will be honored at a celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Additionally, high school seniors recognized with top honors for a body of work and other selected Award recipients, will have their art and writing exhibited at Reeves Contemporary in the heart of Chelsea's art district in New York City, from June 14-16, 2007. Other nationally recognized works will also be on display at the Alliance Gallery in New York City from June 14-21, 2007.

Each year, the Alliance receives thousands of works of art and writing, submitted through 82 regional affiliate programs across the nation for consideration in 25 categories of art and writing. The submissions are evaluated locally and nationally by a panel of jurors comprised of renowned artists, authors, educators and arts professionals. Notable past and current jurors include Billy Collins, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, William Saroyan, Frank McCourt, Andy Rooney, Judy Blume, KiKi Smith, Faith Ringgold, George Plimpton and Philip Pearlstein.

The Awards program continues to provide a platform for creative expression for millions of students across the country as the Alliance brings outstanding visual art and writing created by teenagers to a national audience and encourages their creative journey and career development. In addition to awarding annual scholarships to top portfolio award recipients, the Alliance collaborates with colleges across the country that make an additional $1.5 million in financial aid available to award recipients with exceptional promise. For more information on the Alliance and The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, please visit http://www.artandwriting.org/.

The Awards program and the work of the Alliance are made possible through the support of Scholastic Inc., the Title Sponsor. Generous leadership support is also provided by The Maurice R. Robinson Fund, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust. Presenting Sponsors include The New York Times Company, Accenture, Command Web Offset, The Diller - von Furstenberg Family Foundation, CDW-G and Hewlett Packard.

For more information, log on to http://www.artandwriting.org/.