Five students from Eden Prairie’s Performing Institute of Minnesota (PiM) Arts High School have been recognized with national medals in the 2024 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Over 110,000 students in grades 7 to 12 from across the USA, U.S. territories, and Canada entered nearly 340,000 original works across 28 categories of art and writing into this year’s competition. Fewer than 2,500 works of art were awarded national medals.
Winners were evaluated anonymously and were selected by a panel of jurors for their originality, skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.
The PiM Arts High School national winners were recognized in a variety of categories.
Graduating senior Avery Davis-Fehr was one of 16 students chosen from over 10,000 applicants to win the prestigious Gold Medal Portfolio Award, which comes with a $12,500 scholarship and a $1,000 award to educators of the winners. Davis-Fehr won in the Art category for her work titled, “Midwest Memories.”
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PiM’s other national award winners were:
- Leo Buffalo, Silver Medal in the Digital Art category, for “Jesus of Suburbia.”
- Una Guenther, Gold Medal in the Industrial Design category, for “Leaf Dragon.”
- Marley Hilton, Gold Medal in Photography category, for “200th Street West.”
- Nico Rivera, Silver Medal in the Film and Animation category, for “My Dinner with Dean.”
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Rob Thompson, PiM Arts High School’s director of communications and development, said, ”PiM is so proud of our Visual and Media Arts students and their teachers. These acknowledgments stand as proof of the artistic excellence PiM strives for and the high level our student artists can achieve.”
Since they were founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art and Writing awards have aimed to inspire and recognize creative teenagers throughout the country.
The program’s alumni include artist Andy Warhol, writers Stephen King and Truman Capote, poets Sylvia Plath and Amanda Gorman, photographer Richard Avedon, and filmmaker Richard Linklater.
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