(February 20, 2002) -- Christine Ji, Lili Melikian, Saiedeh Omidghaemi and Peter Sriployrung recently won Gold awards for the Scholastic Art Competition. Their work will go on to be judged nationally in New York.

“I was surprised because I didn’t think that it was a winning piece.  But I guess it was pretty good,” said Ji.

The Southern California division Scholastic Awards ceremony for art and writing took place Feb. 9 at Otis College.

It included a reading and art opening that displayed the students’ entries. Among those granted awards were 15 students for visual awards. Eleven out of those 15 received the Silver Award or Honorable Mention. Sophomore Punardeep Sikka and Armine Gukasyan both received Silver Key Awards from the National Scholastic Writing Competition.

Now in their 78th year, the Scholastic Art and  Writing Awards are the largest, longest-running recognition program for  young people in the United States. The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc., a non-profit organization. Award winning work from regional competitions will be sent to New York to be judged  by panels of distinguished artists, writers, educators and other professionals. Previous winners of this competition include Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford for the Art Competition.

All entries from Clark were submitted to the Southern California Regional Division. This includes schools from Kern County to southern San Diego. The competition accepts entries from both private and public schools and is open to all students in grades 7-12. Each school is allowed to enter ten drawings, ten digital images/photographs and ten paintings.