Madeira Students Recognized in 2025 Regional Scholastic Art Awards

Madeira art students were honored with several 2025 Regional Scholastic Art Awards, including six Gold Keys, six Silver Keys, and seven honorable mentions.

The Scholastic Art Awards program, presented by the Alliance for Youth Artists and Writers, is the largest, longest-running recognition program of its kind in the United States. Established in 1923, the awards have recognized students who have become some of our nation’s most celebrated artists. More than 200,000 students participate in the program across the country.

 A distinguished panel of judges who are leaders in the visual arts, evaluated the works on originality, skills, and the emergence of a person voice and selected honorees from 2,500 entries. Out of these submissions, Gold Keys, Silver Keys, and Honorable Mentions are awarded for outstanding drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics, sculptures, digital art, architecture, jewelry, fashion, film and animation, mixed media artworks, and portfolios.

Gold Key award-winning entries will be submitted to the national Scholastic Art Awards competition, where students will be awarded national Gold and Silver medals, as well as monetary awards and scholarships. National awards will be announced in June, and an exhibit of the national winners’ works will be on display in New York City later in the year.

We were lucky to chat with a few of the honored artists and have them share their thoughts and a bit about their artistic processes with our readers here.

Nox Nackman ’27

Silver Key in Mixed Media

“The Noise is a piece in my current portfolio I am working on in Art Seminar, called ‘Interpretation of Communication,’ focusing on feelings associated with memories or familiarities that are immense yet evasive.

For The Noise, I expressed my everyday life and the chaos I felt from it. The eventual decay of yourself from the world by ‘the noise’ around you. In this piece, I used metaphors, such as the fleeting birds that slowly gain more shape as you begin to understand a concept more. Here was my artist statement for it: Being autistic, I find it difficult to communicate my emotions with others through words. Art has been my main method of communication when words fail me. The Noise represents the overstimulation I feel by those around me. This repression makes me feel lost and consumed by the noise of other people. In this piece, The Noise, I use the reference of a younger version of myself feeling like a lost child; the words from the newsprint consume me, reducing my space and mind. Meanwhile, the ever-destroying void lies behind the figure, sucking the words and the person in. The endless vicious cycle can only be broken once I ground myself in my surroundings. For this piece I used color pencils to shape out the main shadows and lighting I want to use on the figure. Next, I harshly drew with warm tone colors on the figure. Then, I added a layer of harsh white, and finally I added the shadows and any additional soft light. For the background I ripped up newspapers and used Mod Podge as glue for the newspaper onto the paper. As well, I applied this to the blue coloring and the abstract birds in the background. Finally, I used an X-Acto knife to cut out the birds’ pieces and carefully put them together.” 

In this year’s regional competition, Nox won three additional Silver Keys in the category of Printmaking.

Varsha Ayala ’27

Silver Key in Architecture & Industrial Design

“This design is for a Parkinson’s spoon with a gyroscopic function to help individuals with hand tremors maintain stability while eating, an everyday task. Having seen my grandfather and knowing 10 million Americans struggle with this health condition, this issue inspired me to create a practical solution that eases their challenges. The design process involved researching the effects of tremors, experimenting with gyroscopic technology, and refining multiple 3D-printed prototypes to ensure balance, usability, and comfort. This spoon is made for individuals with Parkinson's to enhance their independence during meals, and to restore confidence for a simple daily task.”

Anu Gunturu ’26

Silver Key in Photography

“Thank you for your interest in my artistic passion! I earned a Silver Key for my photograph ‘Midsummer Storm.’ I took this photo in my house during a rainstorm. I thought the sky looked really pretty and wanted to capture the moment."

Elle Ruggiero ’26

Honorable Mention in Photography

“My photograph is titled ‘The Invisible Girl’ as a reference to H. G. Wells' novel, The Invisible Man. I took this picture during a time in my life when I felt socially isolated. At school, I was there physically, but I was invisible to my peers.

The photograph was intended to represent an invisible person; shoes are visible, but it is implied that there is nothing physically there. However, in the puddle, there is a shadow of the person wearing the shoes. You aren’t able to discern any details of the face or body; the person exists as a shimmer of a reflection. I was inspired by the way black-and-white photos are able to depict light, shadow, and opacity.

Formatting the photograph correctly was a huge challenge. I wanted to get the image to a specific level of detail in dots per inch, or dpi. Figuring out how to change the dpi in photo-editing software took hours. It was very rewarding when I finally figured out how to change the specifications. I also struggled with cropping the photo - trying to determine the best composition.”

Felix Doern ’26

Honorable Mention in Digital Art

“This piece was created for an independent art magazine project centered around wanted posters. At the time of drawing it, I had just finished watching the Netflix show One Piece and was inspired by their use of reality ‘cutting through’ the characters’ posters. My poster depicts a made-up character slashing through their wanted poster, revealing the eyes, which I think are the most important part of any face.

I like how I depicted action in this piece, especially with the lighting of the character and the debris falling around them. I also used the contrasting colors of orange and blue to balance out the piece. I did struggle at first when coming up with my first draft, but once that was finished, I gained a lot of momentum.”

Other Madeira honorees included Callie Cai ‘26, who received three Gold Keys for her pieces in Photography and Digital Art; Nia Thomas ’25, who received three Gold Keys for works submitted in Digital Art and Painting, as well as a Silver Key for Comic Art; and Jaye Cho ’25 and Julianna Sanchez ’25 who both received Honorable Mentions.

Congratulations to all the honorees!

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