EP students win national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Five students from the Performing Institute of Minnesota (PiM) Arts High School in Eden Prairie were awarded national medals at the 2024 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

More than 110,000 students in grades 7 through 12 from the United States, U.S. territories, and Canada submitted nearly 340,000 original works to the competition this year in 28 art and writing categories. Fewer than 2,500 works of art were awarded national medals.

The winners were judged anonymously and selected by a panel of judges based on their originality, skill and development of a personal voice or vision.

The national winners of PiM Arts High School were awarded in various categories.

Graduate Avery Davis-Fehr was one of 16 students selected 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 for the winners’ teachers. Davis-Fehr won in the art category for her work titled “Midwest Memories.”

The other national PiM 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 the Photography category for “200th Street West”.
• Nico Rivera, silver medal in the film and animation category for “My Dinner with Dean”.

Rob Thompson, Director of Communications and Development at PiM Arts High School, said: “PiM is so proud of our students and their teachers in the Visual and Media Arts. These recognitions are a testament to the artistic excellence that PiM strives for and the high level that our student artists can achieve.”

Since its founding in 1923, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards have aimed to inspire and recognize creative teens across the country.

Alumni of the program include artist Andy Warhol, writers Stephen King and Truman Capote, poets Sylvia Plath and Amanda Gorman, photographer Richard Avedon and filmmaker Richard Linklater.