Photo (L-R): Hunter Nix, Sara Hebert, Sydney Knotts, and Jordan Brown.
Four literary art students at the Mississippi School of the Arts received national medals in the Scholastic Art & Writing competition. Hunter Nix, a junior from Laurel, Mississippi, received a Gold Medal and American Voices Medal for “The Promethean Collection” in poetry category, a Silver Medal and Mississippi State New York Life award for “A Hope Of Healing” in personal essay & memoir. Sara Hebert, a senior from Brandon, Mississippi, received a Silver Medal for “Praying Knees” in writing portfolio. Sydney Knotts, a senior from Soso, Mississippi, received a Silver Medal for “Odes and an Elegy” in poetry and a Silver Medal for “The Spectrum of You, From Me” in short story. Jordan Brown, a junior from Hazlehurst, Mississippi, received a Silver Medal for “For the Love, For the Culture” in poetry.
Five works of writing and five works of art from each region are selected by local judges as American Voices & Visions nominees, who are then celebrated in local exhibitions and ceremonies. From the pool of nominees, a panel of jurors in New York City selects one writer and one artist from each region to receive an American Voices Medal or an American Visions Medal, a non-financial highest regional honor. These Medalists are celebrated during National Events and at the National Exhibition in New York City.
Hunter Nix was selected to receive an American Voices Medal and will be recognized this summer in New York City.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to identify students with exceptional artistic and literary talent and present their remarkable work to the world through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The Awards give students opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication, and scholarships. In 2021, students across America entered nearly 230,000 original works in 28 different categories of art and writing.
The Literary Arts discipline program is one of six fine art programs at Mississippi School of the Arts. Talented students from all over Mississippi receive advanced instruction in the arts, taking what they’ve learned from the residential high school to colleges and universities across the country.
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