FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2006

CMS announces winners of Scholastic art & writing awards
ArtsTeach to provide monetary awards to recipients

CHARLOTTE N.C., February 10, 2006 – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) today announced 464 area students were chosen as recipients of the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

“We are very excited to recognize this group of students as the next generation of artists and writers,” said Dean Johns, director of arts education for CMS and manager of the mid Carolina regional program for Scholastic. “These awards show how gifted our students and teachers are,” he added.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is a national program that identifies and documents outstanding achievement of young artists and writers in the visual and literary arts. Each year 250,000 students in grades 7 through 12 participate through regional programs, with more than 50,000 receiving regional awards and exhibition opportunities.

The mid Carolina region is comprised of Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg and Union Counties. Public and private schools are eligible to enter the competition.

ArtsTeach, a non-profit organization in Charlotte that provides quality, arts-infused programs to CMS schools, will provide $3,000 to area winners and will purchase two student artworks for permanent display.

“It is part of our mission at ArtsTeach to recognize and honor students for their outstanding work,” said Deborah Cooper, executive director of ArtsTeach.

Awards are categorized into Gold key, Silver key and honorable mention. The highest level of achievement is the Gold Portfolio Award, which provides a $10,000 scholarship.

The process began last December with teachers submitting up to 20 individual entries and 5 regional portfolio entries each. A panel of local judges, selected by the program’s regional advisory committee, met in January to review the materials.

The panel used a scoring rubric for each entry to determine its originality, technical proficiency and expression. Entries receiving the highest score on the rubric were declared the winners.

The Scholastic Gold Key awarded pieces of work advance to the national competition, to be held in New York later this year with exhibitions in New York and Washington, D.C. In addition to the Scholastic Awards, the mid Carolina region provides awards from the North Carolina Governor’s office, the Mint Museum and the North Carolina Art Education Association.

The winning entries are on display now through February 14 at Spirit Square and the uptown Mint Museum. An awards ceremony for students and their families will take place at Spirit Square on February 12.

For further information about the awards, go to www.scholastic.com/artandwritingawards/index.htm

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards- ArtsTeach Purchase Awards